Qoder CLI Overview

What is Qoder CLI

Qoder CLI is a command-line AI Coding Assistant under the Qoder brand, bringing powerful AI coding capabilities directly to your terminal. Without leaving the command line, you can let Qoder understand your entire codebase, write and modify code, run commands, retrieve information, and complete the full development workflow from exploration to commit. Qoder CLI is designed for developers who prefer working in the terminal. It operates in a conversational manner: you describe what you want to do in natural language, and Qoder autonomously decides which files to read, which tools to call, and which commands to execute, asking for your confirmation before critical operations based on permission settings.

Core Capabilities

The capabilities of Qoder CLI can be broadly categorized as follows: Code Understanding and Generation

Query and edit large codebases, understanding project structure and dependencies across files.
Support Multimodal Input (e.g., images, PDFs) to generate code from design drafts or screenshots.
Describe bugs in natural language and let Qoder locate and fix the issues.

Built-in Tools

Read, write, and edit files, and browse directories.
Execute Shell commands.
Search code (Grep) and find files (Glob).
Perform Web search and Web Scraping to retrieve real-time information.

See Built-in Tools for details. Automation and Integration

Automate repetitive tasks such as Git operations, commits, and PR handling.
Connect to external services and custom tools via MCP (Model Context Protocol). See MCP for details.
Support Headless mode for running in scripts and CI/CD Pipelines. See Running Qoder CLI in Scripts for details.

Extensibility

Extend Qoder CLI's behavior to suit team needs via Skills, Plugins, Subagents, Hooks, and Custom Commands.
Enable Qoder to remember project conventions and team knowledge through Memory and Knowledge Base.

How It Works

At the core of Qoder CLI is an Agent: it receives your requests, plans steps, calls tools to complete tasks, and continuously adjusts its strategy based on results along the way. The entire process revolves around four collaborative elements:

Agent: Responsible for understanding intent, planning steps, and deciding the next actions.
Tools: The Agent interacts with your project and environment through tools, such as reading and writing files, executing commands, and searching code.
Permissions: Before executing operations with side effects (like writing files or running commands), Qoder will request confirmation or automatically allow them based on permission settings.
Context: Conversation History, project instructions (AGENTS.md), and long-term memory together form the background information Qoder relies on to complete tasks.

For a deeper understanding of this mechanism, see How Qoder CLI Completes Tasks.

Multiple Working Modes

The same task can be accomplished in different ways. Qoder CLI offers various working modes to cover scenarios ranging from instant conversations to long-term automation:

Interactive Mode: Chat and work simultaneously; the most commonly used default mode.
Plan (Plan before execution): Analyze the problem and confirm the approach before modifying the code.
Goal (Continuous goal completion): Set completion criteria and let Qoder work continuously until the goal is achieved.
Scheduled Task: Run once at a specified time, or repeatedly according to a calendar schedule.
/loop (Repeated execution): Repeatedly run the same task at fixed time intervals.
Headless (Run in scripts): Run in non-interactive environments and output structured results.

For guidance on choosing the right mode based on task characteristics, see Choosing the Right Working Mode.

Use Cases

Qoder CLI is well-suited for the following typical scenarios:

Understanding Unfamiliar Codebases: Quickly grasp project architecture, locate key modules, and trace call relationships.
Implementing Features and Fixing Bugs: Start from requirement or bug descriptions to complete coding, testing, and verification.
Refactoring and Batch Modifications: Execute consistent structural adjustments across multiple files.
Daily Development Automation: Generate commit messages, review changes, handle PRs, and write tests.
Engineering Pipeline Integration: Run in a non-interactive manner within CI/CD to embed AI capabilities into automated workflows.

Next Steps

Haven't installed it yet? Start with Installation and Upgrade.
Already installed? Head over to Sign-in and Authentication to complete your account configuration.
Want to get started right away? Follow the Quick Start to complete your first task in a real project.