Exponent Shell
Run Exponent directly in your terminal
Exponent Shell brings the full power of Exponent into your terminal, allowing you to chat with Exponent and execute actions without leaving your command line environment.
Getting Started
Prerequisites
Before using Exponent Local, make sure you have:
- Installed the Exponent CLI (see Quickstart)
- Authenticated with your Exponent account
- A project you want to work on
Starting a Session
To start using Exponent Local:
- Navigate to your project directory:
- Start Exponent Shell:
This will start an interactive chat session in your terminal where you can work with Exponent.
Command-line Options
The exponent shell command supports several options to customize your experience:
Enable autorun mode automatically at startup. This allows Exponent to automatically execute commands without requiring explicit confirmation for each step.
Set the depth limit (maximum number of consecutive steps) when using autorun mode. Valid range is 1-30.
ID of an existing chat session to reconnect to.
Provide an initial prompt to start the conversation with.
Run a single prompt in headless mode (requires --prompt). Useful for CI/CD
environments or scripts.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Exponent Shell uses Ctrl key combinations on all platforms (including macOS), not Command (⌘) key combinations.
Confirm execution of the current action (run command, apply file changes, etc.)
Toggle auto-confirm off/on/read-only. Learn more
Toggle thinking mode on/off. When enabled, Exponent will think about the current task before proposing a solution.
Quit Exponent Shell (with confirmation prompt)
Slash Commands
Exponent Shell supports several built-in commands that you can use during a chat session by prefixing them with a forward slash (/):
Toggle autorun mode on/off. When set to read-only, Exponent will only ask for confirmation for commands with potential side effects. When set to on, Exponent will execute commands automatically at each step.
Toggle thinking mode on/off. When enabled, Exponent will think about the current task before proposing a solution.
Move your current chat to a web browser. This opens the chat in Exponent Web while preserving all context and history.
Execute a terminal command directly and add the result as context to your
chat. For example: /cmd ls -la
Create a checkpoint of your current codebase state. This creates a temporary Git commit that isn’t visible in your repository’s history.
Roll back to a previously created checkpoint, restoring your codebase to that state.