Claude CLI

Use Claude Code CLI as an external agent in PraisonAI

Overview

Claude Code CLI is Anthropic’s AI-powered coding assistant that can read files, run commands, search the web, edit code, and more. PraisonAI integrates with Claude CLI to use it as an external agent.

Installation

# Install Claude Code CLI
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

# Or using npm
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Authentication

Set your Anthropic API key:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key

Or authenticate via Claude subscription:

claude setup-token

Basic Usage with PraisonAI

# Use Claude as external agent
praisonai "Fix the bug in auth.py" --external-agent claude

# With verbose output
praisonai "Refactor this module" --external-agent claude --verbose

CLI Options Reference

Print Mode (Non-Interactive)

Option	Description
-p, --print	Print response and exit (useful for pipes/scripts)
--output-format <format>	Output format: text (default), json, or stream-json
--include-partial-messages	Include partial message chunks (with stream-json)
--input-format <format>	Input format: text (default) or stream-json

Model Selection

Option	Description
--model <model>	Model alias (sonnet, opus) or full name (claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929)
--fallback-model <model>	Fallback model when default is overloaded

System Prompts

Option	Description
--system-prompt <prompt>	Custom system prompt for the session
--append-system-prompt <prompt>	Append to default system prompt (recommended)

Tool Control

Option	Description
--allowedTools <tools>	Comma-separated list of allowed tools (e.g., Bash,Edit,Read)
--disallowedTools <tools>	Comma-separated list of denied tools
--tools <tools>	Specify available tools: "" (none), default (all), or specific names

Permission Modes

Option	Description
--permission-mode <mode>	Permission mode for the session
--dangerously-skip-permissions	Bypass all permission checks (use with caution)

Permission Mode Values:

• default - Standard permission behavior
• acceptEdits - Auto-accept file edits
• bypassPermissions - Bypass all permission checks
• plan - Planning mode (no execution)
• delegate - Delegate decisions
• dontAsk - Don’t ask for permissions

Session Management

Option	Description
-c, --continue	Continue the most recent conversation
-r, --resume [value]	Resume by session ID or open picker
--fork-session	Create new session ID when resuming
--no-session-persistence	Disable session persistence
--session-id <uuid>	Use specific session ID

Budget & Limits

Option	Description
--max-budget-usd <amount>	Maximum dollar amount for API calls

MCP Integration

Option	Description
--mcp-config <configs>	Load MCP servers from JSON files
--strict-mcp-config	Only use MCP servers from --mcp-config

Additional Options

Option	Description
--add-dir <directories>	Additional directories for tool access
--verbose	Override verbose mode setting
--debug	Enable debug mode
--json-schema <schema>	JSON Schema for structured output validation
--agents <json>	JSON object defining custom agents
--settings <file-or-json>	Path to settings JSON file

Commands

Command	Description
claude mcp	Configure and manage MCP servers
claude plugin	Manage Claude Code plugins
claude setup-token	Set up authentication token
claude doctor	Check auto-updater health
claude update	Check for and install updates
claude install [target]	Install native build

Examples

Basic Query

# Simple question
praisonai "What files are in this directory?" --external-agent claude

# Code analysis
praisonai "Analyze the code quality of src/" --external-agent claude

With Tool Restrictions

# Allow only read operations
claude -p --allowedTools "Read,Glob,Grep" "Find all TODO comments"

# Deny bash access
claude -p --disallowedTools "Bash" "Review this code"

With Custom System Prompt

claude -p --append-system-prompt "You are a Python expert" "Optimize this function"

JSON Output

claude -p --output-format json "List all functions in main.py"

Continue Session

# Start a session
claude "Create a new feature"

# Continue the session
claude -c "Now add tests for it"

Python Integration

from praisonai.integrations import ClaudeCodeIntegration

# Create integration
claude = ClaudeCodeIntegration(
    workspace="/path/to/project",
    output_format="json",
    model="sonnet"
)

# Execute a task
result = await claude.execute("Refactor the auth module")
print(result)

# Stream output
async for event in claude.stream("Add error handling"):
    print(event)

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Anthropic API key
CLAUDE_API_KEY	Alternative API key variable

Built-in Tools

Claude Code includes these built-in tools:

Tool	Description
Read	Read any file in the working directory
Write	Create new files
Edit	Make precise edits to existing files
Bash	Run terminal commands, scripts, git operations
Glob	Find files by pattern
Grep	Search file contents with regex
WebSearch	Search the web for information
WebFetch	Fetch and parse web page content

Related

• External Agents Overview
• Gemini CLI
• Codex CLI
• Cursor CLI