| name | zai-cli |
| description | Z.AI CLI providing vision, search, reader, and GitHub exploration via CLI and MCP. Use when user needs image/video analysis, OCR, UI-to-code conversion, error diagnosis, real-time web search, web page to markdown extraction, or GitHub code exploration. Trigger with phrases like "analyze this image", "search the web for", "read this page", "explore this repo", or "use zai". Requires Z_AI_API_KEY. |
| allowed-tools | Read, Write, Edit, Bash, WebFetch |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| author | Numman Ali <numman.ali@gmail.com> |
ZAI CLI
Access Z.AI capabilities via npx zai-cli. The CLI is self-documenting - use --help at any level.
Setup
export Z_AI_API_KEY="your-api-key"
Get a key at: https://z.ai/manage-apikey/apikey-list
Commands
| Command | Purpose | Help |
|---|---|---|
| vision | Analyze images, screenshots, videos | --help for 8 subcommands |
| search | Real-time web search | --help for filtering options |
| read | Fetch web pages as markdown | --help for format options |
| repo | GitHub code search and reading | --help for tree/search/read |
| tools | List available MCP tools | |
| tool | Show tool schema | |
| call | Raw MCP tool invocation | |
| code | TypeScript tool chaining | |
| doctor | Check setup and connectivity |
Quick Start
# Analyze an image
npx zai-cli vision analyze ./screenshot.png "What errors do you see?"
# Search the web
npx zai-cli search "React 19 new features" --count 5
# Read a web page
npx zai-cli read https://docs.example.com/api
npx zai-cli read https://docs.example.com/api --with-images-summary --no-gfm
# Explore a GitHub repo
npx zai-cli repo search facebook/react "server components"
npx zai-cli repo search openai/codex "config" --language en
npx zai-cli repo tree openai/codex --path codex-rs --depth 2
# Check setup
npx zai-cli doctor
Output
Default: data-only (raw output for token efficiency).
Use --output-format json for { success, data, timestamp } wrapping.
Advanced
For raw MCP tool calls (tools, tool, call), Code Mode, and performance tuning (cache/retries),
see references/advanced.md.