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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/bolt-builder/bolt-cli/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Bolt puts a full AI engineering team inside your terminal. It reads your codebase, understands what you’re building, and ships code alongside you — through a fast keyboard-driven TUI or a native desktop application.

Why Bolt?

Bolt is designed around the way developers actually work: in the terminal, across multiple sessions, on real codebases. Here’s what sets it apart:
  • Terminal-first TUI. A fast, keyboard-driven interface built with Effect, OpenTUI, and SolidJS. It feels native because it is.
  • A whole team of agents. Ten specialized agents — code, plan, ask, code-review, debug, refactor, docs, security, migrate, and perf — plus subagents for research and multi-step delegation. Switch between them with Tab.
  • Sessions you can leave and re-join. Detach from a session and attach later, even on a remote server. Fork, share, export, and import work at any time. Sessions are stored in SQLite and fully inspectable with bolt db.
  • Extensible by design. MCP servers with full OAuth support, a plugin system, GitHub integration, a built-in API server, and a web UI.
  • Desktop app. The same engine wrapped in a multi-window, multi-tab desktop experience — with an integrated terminal, file tree, command palette, 17 UI languages, and auto-updates.

Built-in agents

Bolt ships with ten specialized agents. Each agent has a defined level of file-system access to match its purpose.
AgentAccessDescription
codeFullDefault: reads, writes, and runs code
planReadExplores the codebase and produces a plan without changing files
askReadQuestions and research — no file edits
code-reviewReadReviews changes for correctness, style, and security
debugFullDebugs failing tests, crashes, and logic errors
refactorFullSafe refactoring with test verification at each step
docsEditWrites and updates documentation and comments
securityReadSecurity audit: vulnerabilities, secrets, patterns
migrateFullFramework upgrades and dependency migrations
perfFullPerformance analysis and optimization
You can also define your own agents as Markdown files or generate one with bolt agent create.

Desktop app

Bolt also ships as a standalone desktop app with multi-window and multi-tab session management, a prompt composer with attachment and clipboard image paste support, an integrated terminal and file tree, a command palette, full settings for keybindings, models, providers and servers, native notifications, deep links, WSL integration on Windows, and auto-updates across dev, beta, and production channels. Download the desktop app from the releases page, or install it in one line on macOS with no Gatekeeper detour:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bolt-builder/bolt-cli/dev/install-desktop | bash

Explore the docs

Installation

Install Bolt via curl, npm, bun, pnpm, yarn, or your system package manager. Covers macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Quickstart

Go from zero to your first AI-assisted coding session in under a minute.

Agents

Deep-dive into each of the ten built-in agents and learn how to create your own.

Configuration

Configure providers, models, MCP servers, plugins, and environment variables.

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