Install the CLI

1npm install -g aile.sh

Bun works too:

1bun install -g aile.sh

Requires Node 20 or newer. Nothing else to install.

Sign in

1aile login

This shows a code, opens your browser, waits for you to approve, then stores a token with permissions 0600 and registers this machine, so aile start works immediately with no second step. Your password never reaches the terminal.

Both flows race, so the paste fallback appears from the second one rather than after the browser path fails.

On a headless box

1aile login --paste          # approve elsewhere, paste the token here
2aile login --token <token>  # fully non-interactive
3aile login --browser        # force the browser flow

--paste prompts hidden, allows three attempts, and verifies the token against the server before writing it to disk. A pasted value is normalised first (surrounding quotes, a leading Bearer, stray whitespace) and screened: a URL, a device code, or anything shorter than 20 or longer than 512 characters is rejected by name rather than stored and failing later.

For scripts and images, AILE_TOKEN does the same job as --token.

Check it worked

1aile status

Tells you the machine id, the server, whether you are signed in, what accounts are connected, and whether a relay is running (including one started in another terminal, which it reads from the lock file). Bare aile is the short version: your balance, your coding tools and what you share.

Point at another server

1aile --server https://staging.example.com status

Per-invocation and writes nothing. To change it for good, set the config key:

1aile config serverUrl https://api.aile.sh

Plain http:// is refused unless you also pass --insecure. That is for staging; it means the credential would cross the network in the clear. aile start takes only the saved setting, aile config allowInsecure true, because the node re-dials for as long as it runs.

Update

1aile --version
2aile update
3aile update --yes    # no prompt, for scripts and images

When a newer version is published a one-line notice appears above whatever you ran. aile update forces a fresh registry read rather than the once-a-day cache, so "up to date" reflects the registry the moment you ask. Silence the notice with AILE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1.

Uninstall

1npm uninstall -g aile.sh

Then delete the data directory: %APPDATA%\aile\ on Windows, ~/.aile/ elsewhere. Nothing else on the machine is touched.

Next

• Connect an account
• Run the node
• Buying from a coding tool instead? aile setup (or npx aile.sh setup) sets it up: see Coding tools.