AskNews CLI

The official AskNews command-line interface for humans, scripts, CI, and AI agents.

Install

Requires Node.js 22.15 or newer.

Run without installing:

npx @emergentmethods/asknews-cli --help

Install globally with npm:

npm install -g @emergentmethods/asknews-cli
asknews --help

Or use the install script (installs under ~/.local by default):

curl -fsSL https://docs.asknews.app/cli/install | bash
asknews --help

Run the install script with --help for version, prefix, checksum, PATH, local-tarball, and agent-skill options.

From a source checkout:

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm package:tarball
./install --tarball release/*.tgz

Quick start

asknews auth login
asknews news search "latest semiconductor policy" --limit 5
asknews news search "latest semiconductor policy" --limit 5 --output json

For CI and agents:

export ASKNEWS_API_KEY="your-api-key"
asknews auth status --output json

API keys can also be stored locally with asknews auth login --api-key. Authentication precedence is --api-key, ASKNEWS_API_KEY, stored OAuth, then stored API key.

Command discovery

--help is the canonical human interface at every command level:

asknews --help
asknews news --help
asknews api news search-news --help

For programmatic discovery:

asknews api list --output json

The CLI provides curated news, stories, DeepNews, alerts, web, Reddit, Wikipedia, and X (Twitter) workflows. Every customer-facing public OpenAPI operation is also available under asknews api <group> <operation>. A generic authenticated escape hatch is available as asknews request METHOD PATH.

Output and safety

Use --output human|table|json|jsonl|yaml or --json. Human mode renders compact domain-specific tables for articles, stories, models, and alerts; table forces tabular list output. Result data is written to stdout and diagnostics to stderr. Noninteractive state-changing operations require --yes. High-cost operations are labeled in help and the machine-readable operation catalog.

Every OpenAPI parameter and request-body field is represented by a kebab-case option with its type, required state, default, enum values, format, and numeric range in --help.

asknews research --help
asknews research models
asknews research "Compare current AI regulations" \
  --model claude-sonnet-4-6 \
  --sources asknews \
  --sources reddit \
  --stream

Agent skill

Package installation embeds the AskNews skill under the standard global agent directory. Opt out with ASKNEWS_NO_AGENT_SKILLS=1, or install/refresh explicitly:

asknews cli setup --scope global
asknews cli setup --scope project --directory .

Development

pnpm sync:openapi
pnpm check
pnpm build
pnpm test:live

The production API defaults to https://api.asknews.app/v1. Override it with ASKNEWS_API_URL or --api-url. See docs/README.md for architecture, generated coverage, ADRs, testing safeguards, and the release process.