Citadel CLI
The citadel CLI is the on-premise agent and administrator's toolkit for the AceTeam Sovereign Compute Fabric. It allows you to securely connect your own hardware to your AceTeam account, making your resources available to your private workflows.
Core Concepts
- AceTeam: The cloud-based control plane where you design and manage workflows.
- Citadel: The on-premise agent you run on your own hardware (the "node").
- Nexus: The secure coordination server (e.g.,
nexus.aceteam.ai) that manages the network.
citadel.yaml: The manifest file that declares a node's identity and the services it provides. This file is automatically generated by the init command.
Installation
One-Line Installer (Recommended)
Linux / macOS
curl -fsSL https://get.aceteam.ai/citadel.sh | bash
This installs to ~/.local/bin and automatically configures your PATH. For system-wide install, use sudo bash instead.
Manual Installation
Linux / macOS
-
Go to the Releases Page.
-
Download the latest .tar.gz archive for your architecture (e.g., citadel_vX.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gz).
-
Extract the archive and place the citadel binary in your PATH.
tar -xvf citadel_vX.Y.Z_linux_amd64.tar.gz
mv citadel ~/.local/bin/ # User-local (no sudo)
# or: sudo mv citadel /usr/local/bin/ # System-wide
Windows
Option 1: One-Line Installer (Recommended)
Open PowerShell and run:
iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aceteam-ai/citadel-cli/main/install.ps1 | iex
This will automatically download, install, and add Citadel to your PATH.
Option 2: Windows Package Manager (winget)
Once published to winget (coming soon):
winget install AceTeam.Citadel
Option 3: Manual Installation
-
Go to the Releases Page.
-
Download the latest .zip archive for Windows (e.g., citadel_vX.Y.Z_windows_amd64.zip).
-
Extract the archive and place citadel.exe in your PATH.
# Extract the zip file
Expand-Archive citadel_vX.Y.Z_windows_amd64.zip -DestinationPath C:\Tools\citadel
# Add to PATH (PowerShell as Administrator)
$env:Path += ";C:\Tools\citadel"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)
Building from Source
Linux / macOS
If you need to build from the latest source code:
# This will create binaries for your platform in the ./build directory
./build.sh
# Build for all platforms (requires cross-compilation tools)
./build.sh --all
Windows
Quick Setup (Automated):
# One-command setup: installs Go/Git, clones repo, builds, tests
iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aceteam-ai/citadel-cli/main/setup-dev-windows.ps1 | iex
See WINDOWS_QUICKSTART.md for a 5-minute getting started guide.
Manual Build:
# Build for Windows (native PowerShell)
.\build.ps1
# Build for all platforms (requires tar for cross-platform packages)
.\build.ps1 -All
# Quick development build
go build -o citadel.exe .
See WINDOWS_DEVELOPMENT.md for detailed Windows development setup instructions.
Releasing (For Maintainers)
The release.sh script automates the complete release process:
# Interactive mode - prompts for version
./release.sh
# Non-interactive mode - specify version
./release.sh v1.2.0
Release Process
The script will:
-
Validate Environment
- Check for uncommitted changes (working directory must be clean)
- Verify GitHub CLI (
gh) is installed
- Validate version format (must be
vX.Y.Z or vX.Y.Z-rc1)
-
Create and Push Tag
- Create a git tag with the specified version
- Push the tag to the remote repository
-
Build Artifacts
- Run
build.sh to create binaries for Linux (amd64 and arm64)
- Generate SHA256 checksums
-
Create GitHub Release
- Generate release notes from commits since the last tag
- Upload binaries and checksums to GitHub Releases
- Display the release URL
Version Numbering
Follow semantic versioning (semver):
- Major version (
v2.0.0): Breaking changes
- Minor version (
v1.1.0): New features, backwards compatible
- Patch version (
v1.0.1): Bug fixes, backwards compatible
- Pre-release (
v1.1.0-rc1): Release candidates for testing
Manual Release Process
If you need to release manually without the script:
# 1. Create and push tag
git tag v1.2.0
git push origin v1.2.0
# 2. Build artifacts
./build.sh
# 3. Create GitHub release
gh release create v1.2.0 \
--title "v1.2.0" \
--notes "Release notes here" \
release/citadel_v1.2.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz \
release/citadel_v1.2.0_linux_arm64.tar.gz \
release/checksums.txt
Command Reference
Node Setup & Provisioning
| Command |
Description |
citadel init |
Join the AceTeam Network (no sudo required). Use --provision for full system provisioning (requires sudo). |
citadel init --authkey <key> --service <name> --node-name <name> --test |
The non-interactive version of init, perfect for automation. Allows you to specify the service (vllm, ollama, llamacpp, none), set the node name, and run a diagnostic test upon completion. |
citadel work |
(Primary command) Starts services from manifest AND runs the job worker. This is the main command for running a node. |
citadel run [service] |
Starts services only. With no arguments, starts all manifest services. With a service name, adds it to the manifest and starts it. |
citadel stop [service] |
Stops services. With no arguments, stops all manifest services. With a service name, stops that specific service. |
citadel login |
Connects the machine to the network. Interactive prompts by default, or use --authkey <key> for non-interactive automation. |
Node Operation & Monitoring
| Command |
Description |
citadel status |
Provides a comprehensive health check dashboard, showing the CLI version, system vitals (CPU, RAM, Disk), GPU status, network, and services. |
citadel test --service <name> |
Runs a diagnostic test for a specific service to verify its functionality. |
citadel logs <service-name> |
Streams the logs for a specific service defined in citadel.yaml. Supports -f to follow the log output. |
citadel nodes |
Connects to the Nexus API and lists all nodes in your compute fabric. |
citadel run --restart |
Restarts all services defined in citadel.yaml. |
citadel version |
Prints the current version of the CLI. |
citadel terminal-server |
Starts a WebSocket terminal server for remote browser-based terminal access. |
Terminal Service
The Citadel Terminal Service provides WebSocket-based terminal access to nodes, enabling browser-based terminal sessions through the AceTeam web application.
Quick Start
# Start the terminal server (requires org-id)
citadel terminal-server --org-id my-org-id
# Start on a custom port with 1-hour idle timeout
citadel terminal-server --org-id my-org-id --port 8080 --idle-timeout 60
Configuration Options
| Flag |
Description |
Default |
--org-id |
Organization ID for token validation (required) |
- |
--port |
WebSocket server port |
7860 |
--idle-timeout |
Session idle timeout in minutes |
30 |
--shell |
Shell to use for sessions |
Platform default |
--max-connections |
Maximum concurrent sessions |
10 |
For detailed documentation, see docs/terminal-service.md.
Health Checks
Citadel nodes expose HTTP endpoints for health monitoring. Since ICMP ping doesn't work with userspace networking, use HTTP health checks instead.
# Lightweight ping check (minimal overhead)
curl http://<node-ip>:8080/ping
# Returns: {"status":"pong","timestamp":"2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"}
# Full health status
curl http://<node-ip>:8080/health
# Returns: {"status":"ok","version":"1.3.0"}
# Complete node status (system metrics, GPU, services)
curl http://<node-ip>:8080/status
The status server runs when using citadel work --status-port=8080.
Example Workflow: Provisioning a New GPU Node
This workflow shows how to take a fresh server and turn it into a fully operational Citadel node.
Quick Start (2 Commands)
# 1. Join the AceTeam Network (interactive - opens browser for auth)
./citadel init
# 2. Start services and run the worker
./citadel work --mode=nexus --status-port=8080
That's it! Your node is now online and accepting jobs.
Full Provisioning (with system setup)
For fresh servers that need Docker and dependencies installed:
# Interactive setup with full provisioning
sudo ./citadel init --provision
# Then start the worker
./citadel work --mode=nexus
Automated Deployment
For scripted deployments, provide all options as flags:
# Provision and configure in one command
sudo ./citadel init --provision \
--authkey tskey-auth-k1A2b3C4d5E6f... \
--service vllm \
--node-name gpu-node-01
# Start the node
./citadel work --mode=nexus --status-port=8080 --heartbeat
Verify Status
Check the node's health at any time:
./citadel status
You should see 🟢 ONLINE for the network connection and 🟢 RUNNING for your configured service.
The citadel.yaml Manifest
The init command generates this file for you. It defines the node's identity and the service it runs.
Example citadel.yaml (generated for a vLLM node):
node:
name: gpu-node-01
tags:
- gpu
- provisioned-by-citadel
services:
- name: vllm
compose_file: ./services/vllm.yml