Global Flags

These flags are available on every wendy command.

--json

Outputs command results as JSON instead of the default interactive TUI or table format.

wendy device list --json

When stdout is not a TTY (for example, when piping output, running in CI, or executing from a script), --json is automatically enabled. An explicit --json or --json=false always takes precedence over the automatic detection.

# JSON output without passing --json explicitly
wendy device list | cat

# Suppress JSON even in a non-TTY context
wendy device list --json=false | cat

Note: For live, full-screen TUI commands such as wendy device top, --json does not stream the interface — it switches the command to a one-shot snapshot mode that prints a single JSON object and exits, instead of rendering the interactive dashboard.

--device

Specifies a target device by IP address, hostname, provider key, or explicit host:port, bypassing device selection.

wendy --device 192.168.1.42 device apps list
wendy --device my-mac.local:50051 device info --json

Automatic update notifications

The Wendy CLI checks GitHub for a newer release in the background once every 24 hours. Because the HTTP call can take several seconds, the result is persisted to ~/.wendy/config.json (field availableCLIUpdate) and displayed at the end of the next CLI command you run after the check completes.

• Interactive terminal: The CLI prompts Update now? (default yes). Answering yes runs the upgrade automatically. Either way, the stored tag is cleared so the prompt does not repeat until the next check finds another update.
• Non-interactive / --json mode: The notice is printed to stderr. No prompt is shown.
• macOS: The upgrade command is brew update && brew install wendy. If the tap is untrusted, the CLI also suggests brew trust wendylabsinc/tap.
• Windows: winget upgrade WendyLabs.Wendy.
• Linux: curl -fsSL https://install.wendy.dev/cli.sh | bash.

Note: The 24-hour cooldown between update checks depends on ~/.wendy/config.json being writable. If the file cannot be saved, the background check runs on every CLI invocation.

Automatic shell-completion prompt

When shell completions aren't installed, the CLI offers — at most once per 24-hour window — to install them with an ambient Install them now? [y/n] prompt after a command finishes. It is never shown in non-interactive or --json contexts, on commands that handle completions themselves (wendy completion …, wendy tour), or once completions are installed or the prompt is dismissed. See wendy completion for the full behavior.

Its state is persisted in ~/.wendy/config.json:

Environment variables