Skip to main content
The Prompts.dev CLI provides six core commands for managing prompt packages. Each command is built with Cobra and includes comprehensive flag support.

​
login

Authenticate with the Prompts.dev platform using OAuth. 
prompt login [flags]

​
Flags

​
--provider
string
default:"github"
OAuth provider to use for authentication. Supported values: github, google

​
How it works

The login command:
  1. Generates a random state parameter for CSRF protection (see main.go:90-93)
  2. Starts a local callback server on 127.0.0.1:9876 (see main.go:110)
  3. Opens your browser to the OAuth provider’s login page (see main.go:135)
  4. Receives the authentication token via callback (see main.go:111-127)
  5. Stores the token in ~/.prompts/config.json with 0o600 permissions (see main.go:395-403)

​
Examples

prompt login

​
Expected output

Complete login in your browser...
Logged in successfully
The login flow times out after 2 minutes (see main.go:149-151).

​
init

Scaffold a new prompt package with the required file structure. 
prompt init [name] [flags]

​
Arguments

​
name
string
required
The name of the prompt package to create. This will be used as the directory name.

​
Flags

​
--force
boolean
default:"false"
Overwrite existing files if they already exist

​
Generated files

The init command creates three files (see main.go:175-179): 
name: my-prompt
description: Describe your prompt
version: 1.0.0
author: 
inputs:
  - name: product
    required: true
tags:
  - general
Defines metadata, required inputs, and tags for your prompt.
Write a high-quality prompt using {{product}}.
The actual prompt template with variable placeholders using {{variable}} syntax.
# my-prompt

Prompt package.
Human-readable documentation for your prompt package.

​
Examples

prompt init code-reviewer

​
Expected output

Initialized prompt package in code-reviewer

​
publish

Publish the current prompt package to the registry. 
prompt publish

​
Requirements

  • Must be run from a directory containing prompt.yaml
  • Must be authenticated (run prompt login first)
  • Manifest must have valid name and version fields (see main.go:417-425)

​
How it works

The publish command:
  1. Loads and validates prompt.yaml (see main.go:205-211)
  2. Creates the prompt in the registry or finds the existing one (see main.go:218-224)
  3. Creates a tarball of the current directory (see main.go:226-230)
  4. Uploads the tarball as a new version (see main.go:236-238)

​
Examples

cd my-prompt
prompt publish

​
Expected output

Published [email protected]
If a prompt with the same name already exists, you’ll get an error: prompt already exists; fetch prompt id and publish a new version (see main.go:223)

​
install

Install a prompt package from the registry. 
prompt install [owner/name[@version]]

​
Arguments

​
owner/name[@version]
string
required
The prompt package identifier. Format: owner/name or owner/name@version
  • If version is omitted, installs the latest version (see main.go:270-279)
  • Version is fetched from the API if not specified

​
Installation location

Prompts are installed to .prompts/[name]/ in the current directory (see main.go:286).

​
Examples

prompt install topboyasante/code-reviewer

​
Expected output

Installed topboyasante/[email protected] into .prompts/code-reviewer

​
run

Render a prompt template with provided variables. 
prompt run [name] [flags]

​
Arguments

​
name
string
required
The name of the installed prompt to run (from .prompts/[name]/)

​
Flags

​
--var
key=value
Template variables to inject. Can be specified multiple times.Required variables are validated against the manifest (see main.go:318-324).

​
How it works

The run command:
  1. Loads the manifest from .prompts/[name]/prompt.yaml (see main.go:309-312)
  2. Reads the template from .prompts/[name]/prompt.md (see main.go:313-316)
  3. Validates all required inputs are provided (see main.go:318-324)
  4. Performs simple string replacement: {{key}} → value (see main.go:326-329)
  5. Prints the rendered prompt to stdout

​
Examples

prompt run code-reviewer --var language=python

​
Expected output

The rendered prompt text with variables replaced: 
Write a high-quality prompt using python.
If a required variable is missing, you’ll get an error: missing required --var [name] (see main.go:321-323)
Search for prompts in the registry. 
prompt search [query]

​
Arguments

​
query
string
required
Search query to find prompts by name, description, or tags

​
How it works

Results are:

​
Examples

prompt search "code review"

​
Expected output

NAME                    DESCRIPTION
code-reviewer           AI-powered code review assistant
go-code-reviewer        Specialized Go code reviewer
py-code-reviewer        Python code review with best practices

​
Global behavior

​
Environment loading

The CLI automatically loads .env files from the current directory or any parent directory (see main.go:60-82).

​
Config directory

All commands ensure ~/.prompts/ exists before running (see main.go:47-49).

​
Error handling

Errors are written to stderr and exit with code 1 (see main.go:54-57).

​
Next steps

Workflow Guide

See these commands in action with real-world examples

API Reference

Learn about the underlying API used by the CLI

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us