phonton-cli

library0.19.7jsnpmunverified

Phonton CLI is a local-first agentic development environment (ADE) for planned, verified, reviewable code changes. Current stable version is 0.19.7, released regularly (see GitHub releases). It differs from generic AI coding assistants by enforcing an accountable development loop: goal → plan → edit → verify → review → remember. It is not a chatbot; it produces diff-only changes, layered verification (syntax, tests, memory), and typed handoff packets with evidence. Runs locally, keeps state in SQLite, and supports BYOK providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama, etc.) with no hosted proxy.

devops

npm install phonton-cli

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · PHONTON-CLI

phonton-cli

devopsjavascriptv0.19.7

harness data pending

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

No compatibility data collected yet for this library.

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

phonton

✓ npx phonton <command>

✗ import phonton from 'phonton-cli'

Phonton CLI is a CLI tool, not a library. Use npx or global install (npm install -g phonton-cli).

cli commands

✓ phonton goal "description"

✗ phonton-cli goal "description"

The binary is named 'phonton', not 'phonton-cli'.

programmatic usage

✓ Not supported; use CLI subprocess or shell

✗ const phonton = require('phonton-cli')

There is no programmatic API. Use child_process.exec or similar.

Install globally, run doctor to check setup, configure API key, then execute a goal and review results.

npm install -g phonton-cli@0.19.7 phonton doctor phonton config edit # add your provider API key phonton goal "fix the failing npm test in this repo" phonton review latest --json phonton benchmark export --latest

Debug

Known issues

breakingv0.x versions use a mutable internal SQLite schema; upgrades may require migration or reinitialize memory.

fix

Backup .phonton directory and re-run 'phonton doctor' after upgrade. Expect occasional data format changes.

affects: <0.19.0

gotchaRunning 'phonton goal' with high permissions (e.g., --permission-mode full-access) can execute arbitrary commands on your machine.

fix

Use default permission mode or review goal contract carefully before allowing full access.

affects: >=0.1.0

gotchaConfig file is stored in user home directory (~/.phonton/config.toml) and may be exposed in backups.

fix

Ensure API keys are stored via environment variables instead of config file, or set restrictive permissions.

affects: >=0.1.0

deprecatedThe '--prompt-file' flag is deprecated in favor of passing the prompt directly as an argument or using stdin.

fix

Use 'phonton goal "$(cat prompt.txt)"' instead.

affects: >=0.18.0

breakingIn v0.19.0 the TUI layout changed; scripts parsing JSON output with '--json' flag remain stable.

fix

Use --json flag for machine-readability instead of parsing TUI output.

affects: >=0.19.0

Errors

Common errors & fixes

phonton is not recognized as an internal or external command

Global install path not in PATH or not installed globally.

fix

Reinstall globally: npm install -g phonton-cli@0.19.7. Ensure npm global bin is in PATH.

Error: Cannot find module 'phonton-cli'

Attempting to import as a module in Node.js script.

fix

Phonton CLI is not a library; invoke via child_process: exec('npx phonton'), not require().

Error: API key not configured. Please run 'phonton config edit' or set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

No provider API key set.

fix

Run 'phonton config edit' and add your API key, or set the environment variable per provider (e.g., ANTHROPIC_API_KEY).

Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/home/user/.phonton'

Insufficient permissions to create config directory.

fix

Re-run with appropriate permissions or set PHONTON_HOME to a writable directory.

Upgrade

Version history

0.19.7latest on npm

Audit

Dependencies

noderequiredRuntime requirement: the CLI runs on Node.js ≥18

Agent activity

4 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/phonton-dev/phonton-cli ↗

packagephonton-cli ↗

homepagehttps://github.com/phonton-dev/phonton-cli#readme ↗