---
title: Tabstack CLI | Tabstack
description: Use the full Tabstack API from your terminal. The Tabstack CLI is a single, dependency-free binary for browser automation, web research, and structured extraction, built for shell workflows and CI.
---

The Tabstack CLI brings every Tabstack capability to your terminal: markdown and structured extraction, AI generation, browser automation, and web research. It’s a single static binary with no runtime dependencies, so it drops cleanly into shell scripts, Makefiles, and CI pipelines.

Output is human-readable when you run it in a terminal and switches to JSON automatically when piped, so the same command reads well by hand and parses cleanly in a script.

The CLI is open source on [GitHub](https://github.com/Mozilla-Ocho/tabstack-cli).

---

## Install

Install the latest release with the install script:

Terminal window

```
curl -fsSL https://tabstack.ai/install.sh | sh
```

This downloads the right prebuilt binary for your platform (macOS, Linux, Windows) and puts `tabstack` on your `PATH`.

Verify the install:

Terminal window

```
tabstack --version
```

Tip

Prefer to build from source or install with Go? See the [project README](https://github.com/Mozilla-Ocho/tabstack-cli) for `go install` and source-build instructions.

---

## Authenticate

You’ll need a Tabstack API key first ([get one at tabstack.ai](https://tabstack.ai)).

Log in once and the key is saved to your config file:

Terminal window

```
tabstack auth login     # prompts for your API key
tabstack auth status    # shows how the key is being resolved
```

The CLI resolves your API key in this order of precedence:

1. `--api-key` flag
2. `TABSTACK_API_KEY` environment variable
3. Config file at `~/.config/tabstack/config.toml` (created with `0600` permissions)

For CI and scripts, set the environment variable instead of logging in:

Terminal window

```
export TABSTACK_API_KEY="sk_..."
```

---

## Commands

### Extract markdown

Convert any URL to clean markdown:

Terminal window

```
tabstack extract markdown https://example.com --metadata
```

### Extract structured JSON

Pull structured data from a page against a JSON schema:

Terminal window

```
tabstack extract json https://example.com --schema @schema.json
```

### Generate with AI

Generate structured output from a page using natural-language instructions plus a schema:

Terminal window

```
tabstack generate json https://example.com \
  --instructions "Extract the product name, price, and availability" \
  --schema @schema.json
```

### Browser automation

Drive a browser with a natural-language task:

Terminal window

```
tabstack agent automate "Find the price of the Pro plan" --url https://example.com
```

### Web research

Run a multi-source research task:

Terminal window

```
tabstack agent research "latest developments in quantum computing" --mode balanced
```

### Interactive automation

Pause an automation to supply input mid-run (logins, forms), then resume by request ID:

Terminal window

```
tabstack agent automate "Log in and download the latest invoice" \
  --url https://example.com --interactive


tabstack agent input <request-id> \
  --data '{"fields":[{"ref":"field1","value":"yes"}]}'
```

See the [interactive mode guide](/guides/interactive-mode/index.md) for the full pause/resume flow.

---

## Common options

These flags work across the commands above:

| Flag                            | Description                                                                                                  |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `--effort {min\|standard\|max}` | Trade speed against capability. See [effort levels](/guides/effort-levels/index.md).                         |
| `--geo <CC>`                    | Route the request through a country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2). See [geotargeting](/guides/geotargeting/index.md). |
| `--nocache`                     | Bypass the cache and fetch fresh.                                                                            |
| `-o, --output {pretty\|json}`   | Force the output format (auto-detected by default).                                                          |
| `--timeout <dur>`               | Request timeout, e.g. `30s`.                                                                                 |
| `--no-color`                    | Disable colored output.                                                                                      |

---

## Input handling

The `--schema`, `--instructions`, and `--data` flags all accept three input forms:

- A **literal string**, like `--instructions "Extract the title"`
- A **file** with `@`, like `--schema @schema.json`
- **stdin** with `-` (like curl), as in `--schema -`

Terminal window

```
cat schema.json | tabstack extract json https://example.com --schema -
```

---

## Output and exit codes

Output auto-detects context: pretty for terminals, JSON when piped. Pipe straight into `jq`:

Terminal window

```
tabstack extract markdown https://example.com | jq .
```

Exit codes make the CLI safe to branch on in scripts:

| Code | Meaning                                      |
| ---- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `0`  | Success                                      |
| `1`  | Runtime / network error                      |
| `2`  | Usage / invalid input (e.g. missing API key) |
| `3`  | API error or task failure                    |

Terminal window

```
if tabstack extract json "$URL" --schema @schema.json > out.json; then
  echo "extracted"
else
  echo "failed with exit $?"
fi
```

---

## Next steps

- [API Reference](/api/index.md). Full parameter and response details for every endpoint.
- [Schema design](/guides/schema-design/index.md). Write schemas for `extract json` and `generate json`.
- [Effort levels](/guides/effort-levels/index.md). Tune speed vs. capability.
- [Interactive mode](/guides/interactive-mode/index.md). Handle logins and forms mid-automation.