Clanker CLI

Alpha version.
Docs available at https://docs.clankercloud.ai/
Main agent powering https://clankercloud.ai

Ask questions about your infra (and optionally GitHub/etc). Clanker can inspect existing environments and also generate or apply infrastructure and deploy plans through its maker and deploy flows.

Repo: https://github.com/bgdnvk/clanker

Homebrew tap: https://github.com/clankercloud/homebrew-tap

Install

Homebrew (outdated beware)

brew tap clankercloud/tap
brew install clanker

From source

make install

Requirements

• Go
• AWS CLI v2 (recommended; v1 breaks --no-cli-pager)

brew install awscli

Config

Copy the example config and edit it for your environments/providers:

cp .clanker.example.yaml ~/.clanker.yaml

alternatively you can do
clanker config init

Most providers use env vars for keys (see .clanker.example.yaml), e.g.:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="..."
export GEMINI_API_KEY="..."
export COHERE_API_KEY="..."

No config file defaults

If you run without ~/.clanker.yaml:

• Default provider: openai (unless you pass --ai-profile).
• OpenAI key order: --openai-key → OPENAI_API_KEY (also supports ai.providers.openai.api_key and ai.providers.openai.api_key_env if config exists).
• Gemini API key order (when using --ai-profile gemini-api): --gemini-key → GEMINI_API_KEY (also supports ai.providers.gemini-api.api_key and ai.providers.gemini-api.api_key_env if config exists).
• Cohere API key order (when using --ai-profile cohere): --cohere-key → COHERE_API_KEY (also supports ai.providers.cohere.api_key and ai.providers.cohere.api_key_env if config exists).
• Model: openai defaults to gpt-5; gemini/gemini-api defaults to gemini-3-pro-preview; cohere defaults to command-a-03-2025.

AWS

Clanker uses your local AWS CLI profiles (not raw access keys in the clanker config).

Create a profile:

aws configure --profile clankercloud-tekbog | cat
aws sts get-caller-identity --profile clankercloud-tekbog | cat

Set the default environment + profile in ~/.clanker.yaml:

infra:
    default_provider: aws
    default_environment: clankercloud

    aws:
        environments:
            clankercloud:
                profile: clankercloud-tekbog
                region: us-east-1

Override for a single command:

clanker ask --aws --profile clankercloud-tekbog "what lambdas do we have?" | cat

Usage

MCP

Clanker also exposes its own MCP surface as a CLI command.

Run it over HTTP:

clanker mcp --transport http --listen 127.0.0.1:39393 | cat

Or over stdio for MCP clients that launch commands directly:

clanker mcp --transport stdio | cat

The CLI MCP currently exposes tools to:

• return the installed Clanker version
• return Clanker routing decisions for a prompt
• run local clanker commands through MCP, including ask, openclaw, and other subcommands

Clanker chat routing also recognizes Clanker Cloud app questions now. If you use clanker talk and ask about the running desktop app or its saved settings, it will try the local Clanker Cloud backend first and fall back to Hermes if the app is not running.

Examples:

clanker ask --route-only "use clanker cloud mcp to show my saved settings" | cat
clanker ask --route-only "ask clanker cloud about the running app backend" | cat
clanker mcp --transport http --listen 127.0.0.1:39393 | cat

Example MCP calls against the standalone Clanker CLI server:

# Start the HTTP MCP server
clanker mcp --transport http --listen 127.0.0.1:39393 | cat

# Initialize a client session
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:39393/mcp \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-03-26","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"local-cli","version":"1.0"}}}' | jq

# List available CLI MCP tools
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:39393/mcp \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | jq

# Return the installed clanker version
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:39393/mcp \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"clanker_version","arguments":{}}}' | jq

# Return the internal route decision for a prompt
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:39393/mcp \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":4,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"clanker_route_question","arguments":{"question":"use clanker cloud mcp to show my saved settings"}}}' | jq

# Run a real clanker command through MCP
curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:39393/mcp \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \
    --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":5,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"clanker_run_command","arguments":{"args":["ask","--route-only","use clanker cloud mcp to show my saved settings"]}}}' | jq

The standalone CLI MCP currently exposes these tools:

• clanker_version
• clanker_route_question
• clanker_run_command

Flags:

• --aws: force AWS context/tooling for the question (uses the default env/profile from ~/.clanker.yaml unless you pass --profile)
• --profile <name>: override the AWS CLI profile for this run
• --ai-profile <name>: select an AI provider profile from ai.providers.<name> (overrides ai.default_provider)
• --maker: generate an AWS CLI plan (JSON) for infrastructure changes
• --destroyer: allow destructive AWS CLI operations when using --maker
• --apply: apply an approved maker plan (reads from stdin unless --plan-file is provided)
• --plan-file <path>: optional path to maker plan JSON file for --apply
• --debug: print diagnostics (selected tools, AWS CLI calls, prompt sizes)
• --agent-trace: print detailed coordinator/agent lifecycle logs (tool selection + investigation steps)

clanker ask "what's the status of my chat service lambda?"

clanker ask --profile dev "what's the last error from my big-api-service lambda?"

clanker ask --ai-profile openai "What are the latest logs for our dev Lambda functions?"

clanker ask --ai-profile cohere --cohere-model command-a-03-2025 "Summarize the current deployment risks in dev."

clanker ask --agent-trace --profile dev "how can i create an additional lambda and link it to dev?"

# Maker (plan + apply)

# Generate a plan (prints JSON)
clanker ask --aws --maker "create a small ec2 instance and a postgres rds" | cat

# Apply an approved plan from stdin
clanker ask --aws --maker --apply < plan.json | cat

# Apply an approved plan from a file
clanker ask --aws --maker --apply --plan-file plan.json | cat

# Allow destructive operations (only with explicit intent)
clanker ask --aws --maker --destroyer "delete the clanka-postgres rds instance" | cat

Maker apply behavior

When you run with --maker --apply, the runner tries to be safe and repeatable:

• Idempotent "already exists" errors are treated as success when safe (e.g. duplicate SG rules).
• Some AWS async operations are waited to terminal state (e.g. CloudFormation create/update) so failures surface and can be remediated.
• If the runner detects common AWS runtime issues (CIDR/subnet/template mismatches), it may rewrite and retry the original AWS CLI command.
• If built-in retries/glue are exhausted, it can escalate to AI for prerequisite commands, then retry the original command with exponential backoff.

Kubernetes Commands

Clanker provides comprehensive Kubernetes cluster management and monitoring capabilities.

Cluster Management

# Create an EKS cluster
clanker k8s create eks my-cluster --nodes 2 --node-type t3.small
clanker k8s create eks my-cluster --plan  # Show plan only

# Create a kubeadm cluster on EC2
clanker k8s create kubeadm my-cluster --workers 2 --key-pair my-key
clanker k8s create kubeadm my-cluster --plan  # Show plan only

# List clusters
clanker k8s list eks
clanker k8s list kubeadm

# Delete a cluster
clanker k8s delete eks my-cluster
clanker k8s delete kubeadm my-cluster

# Get kubeconfig for a cluster
clanker k8s kubeconfig eks my-cluster
clanker k8s kubeconfig kubeadm my-cluster

Deploy Applications

# Deploy a container image
clanker k8s deploy nginx --name my-nginx --port 80
clanker k8s deploy nginx --replicas 3 --namespace production
clanker k8s deploy nginx --plan  # Show plan only

Get Cluster Resources

# Get all resources from a specific cluster (JSON output)
clanker k8s resources --cluster my-cluster

# Get resources in YAML format
clanker k8s resources --cluster my-cluster -o yaml

# Get resources from all EKS clusters
clanker k8s resources

Pod Logs

# Get logs from a pod
clanker k8s logs my-pod

# Get logs from a specific container
clanker k8s logs my-pod -c my-container

# Follow logs in real-time
clanker k8s logs my-pod -f

# Get last N lines
clanker k8s logs my-pod --tail 100

# Get logs from a specific time period
clanker k8s logs my-pod --since 1h

# Get logs with timestamps
clanker k8s logs my-pod --timestamps

# Get logs from all containers in a pod
clanker k8s logs my-pod --all-containers

# Get previous container logs (after restart)
clanker k8s logs my-pod -p

# Combine options
clanker k8s logs my-pod -n kube-system --tail 50 --since 30m

Resource Metrics and Statistics

# Get node metrics
clanker k8s stats nodes
clanker k8s stats nodes --sort-by cpu
clanker k8s stats nodes --sort-by memory
clanker k8s stats nodes -o json
clanker k8s stats nodes -o yaml

# Get pod metrics
clanker k8s stats pods
clanker k8s stats pods -n kube-system
clanker k8s stats pods -A  # All namespaces
clanker k8s stats pods --sort-by memory
clanker k8s stats pods -o json

# Get metrics for a specific pod
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod -n production
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod --containers  # Show container-level metrics
clanker k8s stats pod my-pod -o json

# Get cluster-wide aggregated metrics
clanker k8s stats cluster
clanker k8s stats cluster -o json

K8s Ask: Natural Language Queries

The k8s ask command enables natural language queries against your Kubernetes cluster using AI. It uses a three-stage LLM pipeline similar to the AWS ask mode:

1. Stage 1: LLM analyzes your question and determines which kubectl operations are needed
2. Stage 2: Execute the kubectl operations in parallel
3. Stage 3: Combine results with cluster context and generate a markdown response

Conversation history is maintained per cluster for follow-up questions.

# Basic queries
clanker k8s ask "how many pods are running"
clanker k8s ask "how many nodes do I have"
clanker k8s ask "list all deployments and their replica counts"
clanker k8s ask "tell me the health of my cluster"

# With cluster and profile specification (for EKS)
clanker k8s ask --cluster my-cluster --profile myaws "show me all pods"
clanker k8s ask --cluster prod --profile prod-aws "how many replicas do I have"

# Namespace-specific queries
clanker k8s ask -n kube-system "show me all pods"

# Resource metrics
clanker k8s ask "which pods are using the most memory"
clanker k8s ask "show node resource usage"
clanker k8s ask "top 10 pods by cpu usage"

# Logs and troubleshooting
clanker k8s ask "show me recent logs from nginx"
clanker k8s ask "why is my pod crashing"
clanker k8s ask "show me pods that are not running"
clanker k8s ask "get warning events from the cluster"

# Follow-up questions (uses conversation context)
clanker k8s ask "show me the nginx deployment"
clanker k8s ask "now show me its logs"

# Debug mode (shows LLM operations)
clanker k8s ask --debug "how many pods are running"

K8s Ask Flags

Flag	Description
--cluster	EKS cluster name (updates kubeconfig automatically)
--profile	AWS profile for EKS clusters
--kubeconfig	Path to kubeconfig file (default: ~/.kube/config)
--context	kubectl context to use (overrides --cluster)
-n, --namespace	Default namespace for queries
--ai-profile	AI profile to use for LLM queries
--debug	Show detailed debug output including LLM operations

Legacy Natural Language Queries (via clanker ask)

The main ask command also supports Kubernetes queries through automatic context detection:

# These queries are automatically routed to K8s handling
clanker ask "show cpu usage for all nodes"
clanker ask "list all pods in kube-system namespace"
clanker ask "why is pod nginx failing"

Digital Ocean

Clanker supports Digital Ocean infrastructure queries via the doctl CLI.

Setup

Install the doctl CLI:

# macOS
brew install doctl

# Linux (snap)
sudo snap install doctl

Set your API token:

export DO_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"
# or
export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN="your-token-here"

Or configure in ~/.clanker.yaml:

digitalocean:
    api_token: "your-token-here"

Static Commands

# List resources directly (no AI)
clanker do list droplets
clanker do list kubernetes
clanker do list databases
clanker do list apps
clanker do list load-balancers
clanker do list volumes
clanker do list vpcs
clanker do list domains
clanker do list firewalls
clanker do list registries
clanker do list spaces

AI Queries

# Ask questions about your Digital Ocean infrastructure
clanker ask --digitalocean "what droplets are running?"
clanker ask --digitalocean "show me my kubernetes clusters"
clanker ask --digitalocean "list all managed databases"

Maker (Plan + Apply)

# Generate a plan
clanker ask --digitalocean --maker "create a small droplet in nyc1" | cat

# Apply an approved plan
clanker ask --apply --plan-file plan.json | cat

# Allow destructive operations
clanker ask --digitalocean --maker --destroyer "delete the test droplet" | cat

Hetzner Cloud

Clanker supports Hetzner Cloud infrastructure queries via the hcloud CLI.

Setup

Install the hcloud CLI:

# macOS
brew install hcloud

# Linux
# Download from https://github.com/hetznercloud/cli/releases

Set your API token:

export HCLOUD_TOKEN="your-token-here"

Or configure in ~/.clanker.yaml:

hetzner:
    api_token: "your-token-here"

Static Commands

# List resources directly (no AI)
clanker hetzner list servers
clanker hetzner list load-balancers
clanker hetzner list volumes
clanker hetzner list networks
clanker hetzner list firewalls
clanker hetzner list floating-ips
clanker hetzner list primary-ips
clanker hetzner list ssh-keys
clanker hetzner list images
clanker hetzner list certificates

AI Queries

# Ask questions about your Hetzner Cloud infrastructure
clanker ask --hetzner "what servers are running?"
clanker ask --hetzner "show me my load balancers"
clanker ask --hetzner "list all volumes"

Maker (Plan + Apply)

# Generate a plan
clanker ask --hetzner --maker "create a cx22 server in fsn1" | cat

# Apply an approved plan
clanker ask --apply --plan-file plan.json | cat

# Allow destructive operations
clanker ask --hetzner --maker --destroyer "delete the test server" | cat

Troubleshooting

AWS auth:

aws sts get-caller-identity --profile dev | cat
aws sso login --profile dev | cat

Config + debug:

clanker config show | cat
clanker ask "test" --debug | cat

Debug output

Clanker has a single output flag:

• --debug: prints progress + internal diagnostics (tool selection, AWS CLI calls, prompt sizes, etc).

Examples:

clanker ask "what ec2 instances are running" --aws --debug | cat
clanker ask "show github actions status" --github --debug | cat

Notes

• Works on MacOS, Linux and Windows, please report any issues.