Quickstart
Prerequisites
- An API key or subscription from at least one LLM provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) — or use offline mode with no API key
Installation
Ante is distributed as a single, self-contained binary with no external dependencies — just download and run.
curl -fsSL https://ante.run/install.sh | bash
By default this installs to ~/.ante/bin. To install somewhere else, set ANTE_INSTALL_DIR:
curl -fsSL https://ante.run/install.sh | ANTE_INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/bin bash
Quick examples
Interactive session
# Launch the TUI — chat with the agent, approve tool calls, view diffs
ante
Headless one-shot
# Run a task and exit
ante -p "add error handling to src/main.rs"
Pipe input from stdin
# Pipe file contents for analysis
cat src/lib.rs | ante -p "review this code for bugs"
Use a different provider
# Override model and provider
ante --provider openai --model gpt-5.6-sol -p "refactor this function"
Skip tool approvals
# YOLO mode — auto-approve all tool calls
ante --yolo -p "fix all clippy warnings"
Run as a server
# Start a long-lived daemon for programmatic integration
ante serve
Update to the latest version
# Check for a new release and install it
ante update
# Try the development channel for one update
ante update nightly
# Roll back or pin to an exact release
ante update --version v0.preview.33
What's next?
Everyday Recipes
Task-focused guides for common TUI workflows — models, files, approvals, and more.
TUI Guide
Master the interactive terminal interface.
Headless Mode
All CLI flags and output formats.
Local Models
Run models on your own hardware.
Server Mode
Drive Ante programmatically via JSONL.
Skills
Extend Ante with portable Agent Skills.