CLI

The Pillar CLI (pillar-cli) is the fastest way to set up and manage your Pillar integration. It handles SDK installation, tool syncing, knowledge management, and copilot testing from the terminal.

Install

Run with npx (no install needed):

npx pillar-cli <command>

Or install globally:

npm install -g pillar-cli

Quick Setup

npx pillar-cli init

This single command detects your framework, installs the SDK, generates starter code, syncs your tools, and creates knowledge sources from your docs site. When authenticated, it provisions everything so pillar doctor passes.

Commands

pillar init

Set up Pillar in a new project. The init command:

1. Detects your framework (Next.js, Vite+React, Vue, Angular, vanilla JS)
2. Installs the correct SDK package
3. Generates a provider wrapper, starter tools file, and .env.local
4. Creates a sync secret and runs an initial tool sync
5. Detects docs URLs in your project and creates knowledge sources (indexing runs in the background)

npx pillar-cli init

Options:

pillar sync

Scan your code for tool definitions and sync them to Pillar. This replaces the pillar-sync command from @pillar-ai/sdk and adds watch mode.

pillar sync --scan ./src              # Sync once
pillar sync --scan ./src --watch      # Watch for changes
pillar sync --scan ./src --force      # Force sync
pillar sync status --scan ./src       # Compare local vs remote

pillar knowledge

Manage the knowledge sources that power your copilot's answers.

pillar knowledge add https://docs.myapp.com          # Add and crawl
pillar knowledge list                                 # List all sources
pillar knowledge status <id>                          # Check a source
pillar knowledge sync <id>                            # Re-crawl
pillar knowledge remove <id>                          # Delete

pillar doctor

Run diagnostics on your integration.

pillar doctor

Checks agent slug, sync secret (catches placeholder values), SDK version, tool sync status, knowledge source health, and embed config reachability.

pillar chat

Test your copilot from the terminal with streaming responses.

pillar chat "how do I export data?"    # Single question
pillar chat                             # Interactive REPL

pillar auth

Manage authentication (needed for init and knowledge).

pillar auth login
pillar auth status
pillar auth logout

Configuration

The CLI reads settings from (in priority order):

1. Environment variables — PILLAR_SLUG, PILLAR_SECRET, PILLAR_API_URL
2. Config file — ~/.pillar/config.json
3. Project .env — .env.local in the working directory

Migrating from @pillar-ai/sdk pillar-sync

If you're using pillar-sync from @pillar-ai/sdk, switch to:

npx pillar-cli sync --scan ./src

The old command continues to work but won't receive new features. The CLI version adds watch mode, status comparison, and config file support.

CI/CD

# GitHub Actions
- name: Sync Pillar tools
  run: npx pillar-cli sync --scan ./src
  env:
    PILLAR_SLUG: ${{ secrets.PILLAR_SLUG }}
    PILLAR_SECRET: ${{ secrets.PILLAR_SECRET }}