CLI Overview - Mandate

What is the Mandate CLI?

The Mandate CLI (@mandate.md/cli) is a command-line tool for managing agent wallets, validating transactions against your policies, and scanning codebases for unprotected financial calls. It wraps the Mandate API into 9 commands that cover the full agent lifecycle: registration, activation, validation, broadcasting, and monitoring.

Install

Run any command directly with npx:

npx @mandate.md/cli <command>

Or install globally:

bun add -g @mandate.md/cli

npm install -g @mandate.md/cli

After global install, use mandate directly:

mandate validate --action transfer --amount 10 --to 0xRecipientAddress --token USDC --reason "Invoice #42"

Commands

Command	Auth Required	Description
`login`	No	Register a new agent, get a runtime key
`activate`	Yes	Set wallet address after registration
`whoami`	Yes	Show current agent info and credentials
`validate`	Yes	Validate a transaction against your policy
`transfer`	Yes	Validate an ERC20 transfer
`event`	Yes	Post a txHash after broadcast
`status`	Yes	Check an intent’s current state
`approve`	Yes	Wait for human approval on a pending intent
`scan`	No	Scan codebase for unprotected wallet calls

Credential storage

The login command saves your runtime key and agent metadata to ~/.mandate/credentials.json. All authenticated commands read from this file automatically.

{
  "runtimeKey": "mndt_test_abc123...",
  "agentId": "a1b2c3d4-...",
  "claimUrl": "https://app.mandate.md/claim/...",
  "evmAddress": "0x...",
  "chainId": 84532,
  "baseUrl": "https://app.mandate.md"
}

The file is created with 0600 permissions (owner-only read/write). If you need to switch agents, delete the file and run login again.

Never commit ~/.mandate/credentials.json to version control. The runtime key grants full agent access to the Mandate API.

Agent discovery

AI agents can discover CLI commands programmatically using two flags:

npx @mandate.md/cli --llms          # Machine-readable command manifest
npx @mandate.md/cli --llms-full     # Full manifest with option schemas

Each response includes a next field pointing to the logical next step, so agents can chain commands without hardcoded workflows.

MCP server mode

Start the CLI as an MCP stdio server for integration with tools like Claude Code:

npx @mandate.md/cli --mcp

This exposes all CLI commands as MCP tools over standard input/output.

Next Steps

Register an Agent

Create your first agent and get a runtime key.

Validate a Transaction

Run your first policy check from the command line.

Scan Your Codebase

Find unprotected wallet calls before they reach production.

​What is the Mandate CLI?

​Install

​Commands

​Credential storage

​Agent discovery

​MCP server mode

​Next Steps

Register an Agent

Validate a Transaction

Scan Your Codebase

What is the Mandate CLI?

Install

Commands

Credential storage

Agent discovery

MCP server mode

Next Steps