42 pre-built harnesses · 24 categories · pip install ready

Make Any Software Agent-Native

Turn any GUI desktop app into an AI-callable CLI — in one command. No UI automation. No screenshots. No fragility.

▸Any GUI app becomes agent-callable — GIMP, OBS, LibreOffice, Blender, browser
▸Pure structured CLI with --json output — structured data, no parsing hacks
▸42 pre-built harnesses ready to install. Build your own for anything not in the registry
▸Every harness ships with SKILL.md so agents self-discover it automatically

Quick Start Browse Harnesses →

How It Works

The GUI → CLI → Agent Pipeline

Three steps. Every GUI app becomes a pip-installable CLI your agents can call directly.

CLI-Anything Pipeline: GUI Software → CLI Harness → AI Agent

7-Phase Methodology

Analyze

Identifies backend engine, maps GUI actions to API calls, catalogs file formats

Design

Architects command groups, state model, and output format (JSON + human-readable)

Implement

Builds Click CLI: commands, REPL, backend integration, session management

Plan Tests

Creates TEST.md with unit + E2E test inventory before writing any code

Write Tests

Implements full test suite against real software — not mocks

Document

Updates TEST.md with results, generates usage docs

Publish

Creates setup.py, installs to PATH as cli-anything-<name>

Every harness ships with

SKILL.md (agent-discoverable)Stateful REPL--json flag on every commandUndo/redo supportpip install to PATH

SOP

Get Running in 5 Minutes

Three install methods. Pick whichever fits your workflow.

Method A — Claude Code Plugin (Recommended)

# 1. Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add HKUDS/CLI-Anything

# 2. Install the plugin
/plugin install cli-anything

# 3. Generate a harness for any app
/cli-anything:cli-anything ./gimp

# 4. Refine for your use case (run multiple times — non-destructive)
/cli-anything:refine ./gimp "batch image processing and export"

# 5. Use it
cli-anything-gimp --help

Method B — CLI-Hub Package Manager

# Install the hub
pip install cli-anything-hub

# Browse available harnesses
cli-hub list

# Install a specific harness
cli-hub install gimp

# Use it
cli-anything-gimp --help

Method C — Direct pip Install

pip install git+https://github.com/HKUDS/CLI-Anything.git#subdirectory=gimp/agent-harness
cli-anything-gimp --help

Pro tip:Add --json to any command for agent-parseable output: cli-anything-gimp --json project info -p myproject.json

Agency Workflows

How the Team Uses It

Real use cases mapped to real agents and real harnesses.

GMB Image Batch Processing

Agents: PicassoHarnesses: gimp, krita, inkscape

✓Resize 50 images to GMB spec without touching the GUI
✓Apply watermarks and brand overlays in batch
✓Export to JPEG/PNG/WebP at target file sizes
✓Layer operations, filters, and color adjustments — all scriptable

cli-anything-gimp --json layer add-from-file -f brand-logo.png -p project.json
cli-anything-gimp export -f jpg --quality 85 -o output/ -p project.json

Video Production Pipeline

Agents: SpielbergHarnesses: obs-studio, kdenlive, shotcut, videocaptioner, audacity

✓Set up OBS scenes and start/stop recording via CLI
✓Cut, trim, and render video clips with Kdenlive or Shotcut
✓Auto-caption with VideoCaptioner — transcribe, translate, burn styled subtitles
✓Normalize audio levels before export

cli-anything-obs_studio scene switch -n "Interview Layout" -p session.json
cli-anything-videocaptioner transcribe -i episode.mp4 --translate en --burn-subs

SEO Browser Automation

Agents: Einstein, TommyHarnesses: browser, clibrowser, exa

✓Crawl SERPs and extract structured data with zero setup
✓Run accessibility and Core Web Vitals audits programmatically
✓Pull competitor page structures for entity analysis
✓AI-powered search with source extraction via Exa

cli-anything-clibrowser --json fetch --url "https://example.com" --extract-text
cli-anything-exa search --query "roofing contractor near Dallas" --num-results 10

Podcast & Audio Processing

Agents: ShakespeareHarnesses: audacity, libreoffice

✓Normalize episode audio levels, cut silence, export to MP3
✓Apply noise reduction and EQ profiles in batch
✓Generate show notes as DOCX/PDF from LibreOffice templates

cli-anything-audacity --json effect apply -n "Normalize" -p episode.json
cli-anything-libreoffice convert -i shownotes-template.odt -f pdf -o episodes/

Research & OSINT

Agents: RavenHarnesses: exa, intelwatch, clibrowser

✓Run B2B competitive intelligence on target domains via IntelWatch
✓Pull AI-powered search results with full source extraction via Exa
✓Scrape and structure web content without leaving the agent session

cli-anything-intelwatch analyze --domain competitor.com --report full
cli-anything-exa --json search --query "site:competitor.com" --type company

Custom Harnesses

Build Your Own Harness

When the tool you need isn't in the registry — or you have an internal app with no API.

When to build one

▸The tool you need isn't in the registry
▸You have an internal tool with no public API
▸You want to unify scattered API endpoints into one stateful CLI

Steps

# 1. Get the source
git clone https://github.com/org/your-tool.git

# 2. Run the 7-phase pipeline
/cli-anything:cli-anything ./your-tool

# 3. Refine (run multiple times — each pass is incremental)
/cli-anything:refine ./your-tool "add batch processing commands"
/cli-anything:refine ./your-tool "expand export format support"

# 4. Validate
/cli-anything:validate ./your-tool

# 5. Use it — installed to PATH
cli-anything-your-tool --help

✓ Full Click CLI

All commands the tool supports

✓ Test Suite

Unit + E2E with real software

✓ SKILL.md

Agents self-discover it

✓ Stateful REPL

Interactive mode + tab-completion

✓ setup.py

pip install anywhere

No source code? Use an open-source alternative — GIMP instead of Photoshop, Kdenlive instead of Premiere, LibreOffice instead of Office, Inkscape instead of Illustrator.

Team Reference

Agent Harness Map

Who uses what — and why.

Agency Harness Map — which agents use which CLI harnesses

Agent	Harnesses	Primary Use
Einstein / Tommy	browser, clibrowser, exa	SERP scraping, CWV audits, competitor research, structured data extraction
Picasso	gimp, krita, inkscape, comfyui, blender	GMB images, brand assets, SVG graphics, AI image generation, 3D renders
Spielberg	obs-studio, kdenlive, shotcut, videocaptioner, audacity	Scene setup, video edit/render, auto-captioning, audio cleanup
Shakespeare	libreoffice, audacity, anygen	Report generation, podcast audio, AI-generated docs and slides
Merlin	ollama, chromadb, n8n	Local LLM pipelines, vector DB ops, workflow automation
Raven	exa, intelwatch, clibrowser	Web research, B2B intel, OSINT, content extraction
All agents	cli-hub (meta-skill)	Self-discover and install any harness autonomously

Agent self-discovery: Prompt any agent: "Find appropriate CLI software in CLI-Hub and complete the task: [your task]"
The agent browses the catalog, installs the right harness, reads its SKILL.md, and executes — zero human intervention.