A CLI reference implementation of a Strands agent¶

The Strands CLI is a reference implementation built on top of the Strands SDK. It provides a terminal-based interface for interacting with Strands agents, demonstrating how to make a fully interactive streaming application with the Strands SDK.

The Strands CLI is Open-Source and available strands-agents/agent-builder.

Prerequisites¶

Before installing the Strands CLI, ensure you have:

Python 3.10 or higher
pip (Python package installer)
git
AWS account with Bedrock access (for using Bedrock models)
AWS credentials configured (for AWS integrations)

Standard Installation¶

To install the Strands CLI:

# Install
pipx install strands-agents-builder

# Run Strands CLI
strands

Manual Installation¶

If you prefer to install manually:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/strands-agents/agent-builder /path/to/custom/location

# Create virtual environment
cd /path/to/custom/location
python -m venv venv

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -e .

# Create symlink
sudo ln -sf /path/to/custom/location/venv/bin/strands /usr/local/bin/strands

CLI Verification¶

To verify your CLI installation:

# Run Strands CLI with a simple query
strands "Hello, Strands!"

Command Line Arguments¶

Argument	Description	Example
`query`	Question or command for Strands	`strands "What's the current time?"`
`--kb`, `--knowledge-base`	`KNOWLEDGE_BASE_ID`	Knowledge base ID to use for retrievals
`--model-provider`	`MODEL_PROVIDER`	Model provider to use for inference
`--model-config`	`MODEL_CONFIG`	Model config as JSON string or path

Interactive Mode Commands¶

When running Strands in interactive mode, you can use these special commands:

Command	Description
`/exit` or `exit`	Exit Strands CLI
`/clear`	Clear conversation history
`/tips`	Show helpful tips
`/feedback [text]`	Submit feedback or bug report
`/messages`	Show current conversation messages
`/messages_json`	Show conversation as formatted JSON
`/dev`	Toggle developer mode
`/tools`	List all available tools
`!command`	Execute shell command directly

Shell Integration¶

Strands CLI integrates with your shell in several ways:

Direct Shell Commands¶

Execute shell commands directly by prefixing with !:

> !ls -la
> !git status
> !docker ps

Natural Language Shell Commands¶

Ask Strands to run shell commands using natural language:

> Show me all running processes
> Create a new directory called "project" and initialize a git repository there
> Find all Python files modified in the last week

Environment Variables¶

Strands CLI respects these environment variables for basic configuration:

Variable	Description	Default
`STRANDS_SYSTEM_PROMPT`	System instructions for the agent	`You are a helpful agent.`
`STRANDS_KNOWLEDGE_BASE_ID`	Knowledge base for memory integration	None

Example:

export STRANDS_KNOWLEDGE_BASE_ID="YOUR_KB_ID"
strands "What were our key decisions last week?"

Command Line Arguments¶

Command line arguments override any configuration from files or environment variables:

# Enable memory with knowledge base
strands --kb your-kb-id

Custom Model Provider¶

You can configure strands to use a different model provider with specific settings by passing in the following arguments:

strands --model-provider <NAME> --model-config <JSON|FILE>

As an example, if you wanted to use the packaged Ollama provider with a specific model id, you would run:

strands --model-provider ollama --model-config '{"model_id": "llama3.3"}'

Strands is packaged with bedrock and ollama as providers.