blaxel-cli

Blaxel CLI

A CLI to manage Blaxel cloud resources from the command line: agents, sandboxes, jobs, MCP servers, drives, and more.

Prerequisites

The bl command must be available on PATH. To check:

bl version

If not installed, use the official installer for this operating system.

macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://blaxel.ai/install.sh | sh

Windows PowerShell:

irm https://blaxel.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Follow the installer's PATH or shell-reload instructions, then complete setup:

bl setup

Setup installs the Blaxel skills and configures supported coding agents. In a terminal, it also offers browser login. If the installer already completed setup, verify the result instead of repeating it.

When running without a terminal, use bl setup --yes. Setup skips browser login in that environment. If sign-in is still needed, run bl login, present its secure browser URL, and continue after the user approves it. Confirm the selected workspace from command output; do not guess a workspace name or ask for pasted credentials.

For unattended automation, use an existing BL_API_KEY and BL_WORKSPACE supplied securely through the environment. Commands can use these directly; do not start browser login or persist the key in agent configuration.

Verify the installed command and active workspace:

bl version
bl workspaces --current

Treat empty workspace output as incomplete sign-in.

Global Flags

All commands support these flags:

Flag	Description
-o, --output <format>	Output format: pretty, yaml, json, table
-w, --workspace <name>	Override workspace for this command
-v, --verbose	Enable verbose output
-u, --utc	Enable UTC timezone
--skip-version-warning	Skip version warning

Non-Interactive Mode

For commands that prompt for input (confirmations, selections), add -y or --yes to auto-confirm. This is required when running in non-interactive / no-TTY environments (scripts, CI, agents).

Available Commands

bl apply       # Apply configuration changes to resources declaratively using YAML files.
bl chat        # Start an interactive chat session with a deployed agent.
bl connect     # Open an interactive terminal session to a sandbox
bl delete      # Delete Blaxel resources from your workspace.
bl deploy      # Deploy your Blaxel project to the cloud.
bl drive       # Manage drives and drive mounts on sandboxes.
bl fork        # Create a new sandbox or application by forking an existing sandbox.
bl get         # Retrieve information about Blaxel resources in your workspace.
bl login       # Authenticate with Blaxel to access your workspace.
bl logout      # Remove stored credentials for a workspace.
bl logs        # View logs for Blaxel resources.
bl mcp         # Serve the hosted Blaxel MCP tools over stdio using your existing bl login.
bl new         # Create a new Blaxel resource from templates.
bl push        # Build and push a container image to the Blaxel registry without creating a deployment.
bl run         # Execute a Blaxel resource with custom input data.
bl serve       # Start a local development server for your Blaxel project.
bl setup       # Set up everything Blaxel needs on this machine, then log in.
bl share       # Share Blaxel resources with other workspaces in your account.
bl skills      # Manage Blaxel skills for coding agents
bl token       # Retrieve the authentication token for the specified workspace.
bl unshare     # Remove shared Blaxel resources from other workspaces.
bl upgrade     # Upgrade the Blaxel CLI to the latest version.
bl version     # Print the version number
bl workspaces  # List and manage Blaxel workspaces.

Reference Documentation

• apply - Apply configuration changes to resources declaratively using YAML files.
• chat - Start an interactive chat session with a deployed agent.
• connect - Open an interactive terminal session to a sandbox
• delete - Delete Blaxel resources from your workspace.
• deploy - Deploy your Blaxel project to the cloud.
• drive - Manage drives and drive mounts on sandboxes.
• fork - Create a new sandbox or application by forking an existing sandbox.
• get - Retrieve information about Blaxel resources in your workspace.
• login - Authenticate with Blaxel to access your workspace.
• logout - Remove stored credentials for a workspace.
• logs - View logs for Blaxel resources.
• mcp - Serve the hosted Blaxel MCP tools over stdio using your existing bl login.
• new - Create a new Blaxel resource from templates.
• push - Build and push a container image to the Blaxel registry without creating a deployment.
• run - Execute a Blaxel resource with custom input data.
• serve - Start a local development server for your Blaxel project.
• setup - Set up everything Blaxel needs on this machine, then log in.
• share - Share Blaxel resources with other workspaces in your account.
• skills - Manage Blaxel skills for coding agents
• token - Retrieve the authentication token for the specified workspace.
• unshare - Remove shared Blaxel resources from other workspaces.
• upgrade - Upgrade the Blaxel CLI to the latest version.
• version - Print the version number
• workspaces - List and manage Blaxel workspaces.

Discovering Options

To see available subcommands and flags, run --help on any command:

bl --help
bl deploy --help
bl get --help
bl get agents --help

Common Workflows

Create a sandbox, run a command, and get its logs

# 1. Create a sandbox with bl apply
bl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: blaxel.ai/v1alpha1
kind: Sandbox
metadata:
  name: my-sandbox
spec:
  runtime:
    image: blaxel/base-image:latest
    memory: 2048
  lifecycle:
    expirationPolicies:
      - type: ttl-idle
        value: 1h       # Delete after 1 hour of inactivity. Units: h, d, w
        action: delete
EOF

# 2. Retrieve sandbox configuration
bl get sandbox my-sandbox

# 3. Execute a command in the sandbox and get stdout of the command
bl run sandbox my-sandbox --path /process --data '{"command": "echo hello world", "name": "my-cmd", "waitForCompletion": true}'

# 4. Retrieve the logs for that command in case stdout was not sufficient
bl logs sandbox my-sandbox my-cmd

Run a complex command in a sandbox (agent guideline)

bl run sandbox ... --path /process --data '<json>' requires the JSON payload to survive shell quoting. As soon as the command embeds nested quotes, backslashes, multiple lines, or interpreters like sh -lc / python3 -c, inline --data becomes brittle and the API rejects the request with 400 Bad Request: invalid character ... in string escape code.

Decision rule for an agent:

1. Command has no single quotes, no backslashes, no newlines → use --data '{"command": "...", "waitForCompletion": true}' directly.
2. Anything more complex (nested quotes, escapes, multiline, scripts) → write the JSON payload to a file with your Write/file-creation tool (this bypasses the shell entirely), then run with --file.

# Step 1 — agent writes /tmp/process.json with content like:
# {
#   "command": "sh -lc 'python3 -c \"print(\\\"hello\\\")\"'",
#   "name": "cve-check",
#   "waitForCompletion": true
# }
#
# Step 2 — execute it
bl run sandbox my-sandbox --path /process --file /tmp/process.json

Deploy an agent

bl new agent my-agent
cd my-agent
bl serve --hotreload    # Test locally
bl deploy               # Deploy to cloud
bl chat my-agent        # Chat with it

Manage sandboxes

bl get sandboxes                    # List all
bl get sandbox my-sandbox --watch   # Watch status
bl connect sandbox my-sandbox       # Interactive terminal
bl logs sandbox my-sandbox --follow # Stream logs
bl delete sandbox my-sandbox        # Clean up

Multi-workspace deployment

bl workspaces dev     # Switch to dev
bl deploy             # Deploy to dev
bl workspaces prod    # Switch to prod
bl deploy             # Deploy to prod