using-ao

AO CLI Catalog

ao is a thin CLI over the local AO daemon. Every command is ao <command> --help for the authoritative flag list.

| Command | What it does | When to use | Details |

|---|---|---|---|

| spawn | Spawn a project worker or projectless standalone worker | Starting a new task or issue | [commands/spawn.md](commands/spawn.md) |

| session | Manage agent sessions (list, kill, rename, restore, etc.) | Inspecting or controlling running/terminated sessions | [commands/session.md](commands/session.md) |

| project | Register, inspect, configure, or remove projects | Setting up or managing repos AO knows about | [commands/project.md](commands/project.md) |

| orchestrator | List orchestrator sessions | Viewing which sessions are orchestrators | [commands/orchestrator.md](commands/orchestrator.md) |

| review | Submit a reviewer result for a worker's PR | Completing a code review loop | [commands/review.md](commands/review.md) |

| send | Send a message to a running agent session | Correcting or directing a live agent | [commands/send.md](commands/send.md) |

| preview | Start a session-owned app or open an exact URL/file | Running and showing the worker's relevant app, Markdown, HTML, PDF, or image | [commands/preview.md](commands/preview.md) |

| browser | Inspect and control the session's shared live browser | Verifying a web app through snapshots, interactions, waits, screenshots, console, and errors | [commands/browser.md](commands/browser.md) |

| start | Fetch (if needed) and open the AO desktop app | Launching the app | [commands/start.md](commands/start.md) |

| stop | Stop the AO daemon | Shutting down AO | [commands/stop.md](commands/stop.md) |

| status | Show daemon status | Verifying the daemon is up and healthy | [commands/status.md](commands/status.md) |

| doctor | Run local health checks | Diagnosing AO setup problems | [commands/doctor.md](commands/doctor.md) |

| import | Import projects from a legacy AO install | Migrating from the old flat-file store | [commands/import.md](commands/import.md) |

| version | Print version information | Checking installed version | - |

| completion | Generate shell completion scripts | Setting up tab completion | - |

Conventions

• Most read commands accept --json for machine-readable output.
• -p / --project scopes session subcommand lookups to one project.
• Session and project ids are shown by ao session ls and ao project ls.
• --agent is an alias for --harness on ao spawn.
• Every command accepts -h / --help for the full flag list.
• For frontend launch, preview selection, or artifact handoff, read

[commands/preview.md](commands/preview.md) before acting. Its static-file,

project-runtime, and automatic-handoff rules are load-bearing.

• For page inspection, interaction, or request diagnosis, read

[commands/browser.md](commands/browser.md). It defines shared-tab behavior

and the opt-in network policy.

Use [references.md](references.md) only when a natural-language request does

not map clearly to a command above.