CLI overview

ZO ships twelve user-facing CLI commands, plus 24 slash commands for use inside Claude Code sessions.

The canonical pipeline

zo init <project>           # 1. Scaffold memory, target, plan skeleton
zo draft -p <project>       # 2. Plan Architect drafts plan.md
zo preflight <plan.md>      # 3. Validate before spending compute
zo build <plan.md>          # 4. Launch the agent team
zo continue <project>       # 5. Resume a paused project

This is the ordering ZO assumes. Each command is designed for a specific point in the project lifecycle.

Commands

zo init

Scaffold a new project, memory files, target file, plan skeleton, delivery repo. Conversational by default; --no-tmux for headless.

zo draft

Launch the Plan Architect + scouts to draft plan.md against the schema. Confirms each section before writing.

zo preflight

Local-only validation before zo build: CLI availability, plan validity, agent definitions, memory round-trip, Docker, GPU.

zo build

Launch the agent team. Smart mode detection (fresh / continue / re-decompose on plan edit). The flagship command.

zo continue

Resume a paused project. Shorthand for zo build against the project’s known plan. Supports --repo for cross-machine.

zo status

Print the current STATE.md for a project. Phase, blockers, next steps, active agents.

zo experiments

Inspect the Phase 4 experiment registry. Subcommands: list, show <id>, diff <a> <b>.

zo gates

Inspect or toggle gate mode (supervised / auto / full-auto). Per-project.

zo migrate

Migrate legacy project state (top-level memory/{project}/) into the portable .zo/ layout in the delivery repo.

zo watch-training

Live training-metrics dashboard. Rich Live panel with progress bar, metrics table, sparkline. Auto-launched during Phase 4.

zo report

Run an Opus report-lead in an isolated worktree, concurrent with a live model session. Verifies results, writes the LaTeX report; consolidates back safely. See concurrent sessions.

zo consolidate

Fold a finished report session’s memory + artifacts back into the project. Runs automatically on last-session-close; use it to merge sooner.

Global options

Every command accepts these:

Option	Purpose
`--help`	Branded help with sectioned headers (USAGE, DESCRIPTION, OPTIONS)
`--version`	Print `zo` version

Most project-aware commands also accept:

Option	Purpose
`-p`, `--project`	Project name (lookups against `targets/` or `.zo/config.yaml`)
`--repo`	Path to delivery repo containing `.zo/`. Use when running outside the delivery repo’s cwd, especially on a new machine.
`--gate-mode`	`supervised` / `auto` / `full-auto`. See phases & gates.
`--no-tmux`	Disable interactive tmux flow. Falls through to headless / CI-friendly behaviour where applicable.

zo build and zo continue additionally accept the cost-saving flags:

Option	Purpose
`--low-token`	Activate the cost-saving preset (Sonnet lead, max-iterations 2, full-auto gates, no headlines, earlier auto-compaction). See low-token mode.
`--lead-model`	Override the lead orchestrator model (`opus`/`sonnet`/`haiku`). Composes with `--low-token`.
`--max-iterations N`	Hard cap on Phase-4 experiment iterations. Wins over plan-level `## Experiment Loop` and the low-token preset.
`--no-headlines`	Skip the end-of-session Haiku bullet summary (~1 small call per run).
`--bypass-permissions`	Auto-approve Claude Code tool-call permission prompts. Implied by `--gate-mode full-auto`. Works in both tmux and headless modes. See build → Permission prompts.

Modes of operation

Conversational (default)
Headless (--no-tmux)

init, draft, and build launch a tmux pane with a Claude Code session. Useful for the first run of a project, the agents inspect the host, ask clarifying questions, and confirm decisions before writing.

Skip the conversational layer. Useful for CI, scripts, and reproducible re-runs. zo init --no-tmux takes flags for every decision the conversational flow would ask about (--branch, --existing-repo, --base-image, --gpu-host, --data-path, --layout-mode).

Discovering details

zo --help                # top-level, banner + QUICK START + commands
zo build --help          # per-command, DESCRIPTION + OPTIONS
zo experiments --help    # subcommand groups, lists subcommands
zo experiments list --help

The help system is branded and sectioned (the Mintlify search box at the top of this page works on the same content).

Slash commands

Inside a running Claude Code session, ZO provides 24 slash commands organised into eight categories: project, memory, gates, observe, document, agents, engineering, utility. See the full command reference (will be migrated into Mintlify in a follow-up).

Get started

Concepts

CLI reference

Reference

Project

The canonical pipeline

Commands

zo init

zo draft

zo preflight

zo build

zo continue

zo status

zo experiments

zo gates

zo migrate

zo watch-training

zo report

zo consolidate

Global options

Modes of operation

Discovering details

Slash commands

Where to next

zo init

zo build

​The canonical pipeline

​Commands

zo init

zo draft

zo preflight

zo build

zo continue

zo status

zo experiments

zo gates

zo migrate

zo watch-training

zo report

zo consolidate

​Global options

​Modes of operation

​Discovering details

​Slash commands

​Where to next

zo init

zo build

The canonical pipeline

Commands

Global options

Modes of operation

Discovering details

Slash commands

Where to next