cli

README

civitai CLI

⚠️ Apps is in a limited, invite-only beta (pre-GA). You can install this CLI, login, scaffold, validate, and run an app locally right now — but civitai app submit and dev:live require an invite: submission and dev:live are limited to invited beta testers while the feature is in a limited (pre-GA) beta, until Apps opens to the public.

Anyone can request an invite — open a request below and we'll review it:

The command-line interface for Civitai — a single static binary for authoring and shipping Apps.

An App is a small, sandboxed web app that runs inside Civitai surfaces (it's served in an iframe; the platform owns the build and the runtime). The CLI replaces the error-prone "hand-format a ZIP" flow: it scaffolds a correct project, validates the manifest against the platform contract, and packages/submits it for review.

New here? The Build your first App guide is the full end-to-end walkthrough.

Install

Pick whichever fits — npm is the most convenient if you already have Node (App authors usually do); Homebrew is quickest on macOS/Linux; the prebuilt binary needs no toolchain; go install builds from source.

npm (Node)

A thin wrapper that downloads the matching prebuilt binary for your OS/arch on install and verifies its sha256 against the release checksums.txt:

npm install -g @civitai/cli
# or run it without installing:
npx @civitai/cli --help

Homebrew (macOS / Linux)

brew install civitai/tap/civitai

Prebuilt binary

Download a prebuilt binary for your OS/arch from the GitHub Releases page (linux, macOS, windows × amd64/arm64), verify it against checksums.txt, then put it on your PATH:

tar xzf civitai_*_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv civitai /usr/local/bin/
civitai version

Go install (from source, Go 1.25+)

go install github.com/civitai/cli/cmd/civitai@latest
# installs the `civitai` binary into $(go env GOPATH)/bin

Quickstart

# 1. Authenticate once (browser device login; or `civitai login --token <t>`).
civitai login

# 2. Scaffold a ready-to-build App (batteries-included page-money default).
civitai app create my-app
cd my-app

# 3. Install deps and run it locally against the mock host (no real Buzz/compute).
#    `npm run dev` alone renders blank — the harness supplies the host.
npm install
npm run dev:harness

# 4. Edit your app; build it, then check the manifest before submitting.
#    (the `static` template has no build step — skip `npm run build`.)
npm run build
civitai app validate

# 5. Package + submit for review (uploads with your stored token by default).
civitai app submit

# 6. Check where your submission is in review / deploy.
civitai app status

Want to drive the real backend (real Buzz/compute) before submitting? Mint a dev token with civitai app dev-token and run npm run dev:live — see Local dev loop.

Submit ≠ live. civitai app submit enters your app into moderator review — it is not published immediately. The lifecycle is submit → review → approve → build + deploy → https://<blockId>.civit.ai/: that URL 404s until a moderator approves your submission and the platform builds + deploys it (a few minutes after approval). Until then, track status on /apps/my-submissions (a fresh submission sits at pending). See Submit & auth for the full flow. (And note Apps is in an invite-only beta — see the warning above.)

Enable shell completion (optional):

source <(civitai completion bash)   # bash; see `civitai completion --help` for zsh/fish/powershell

SDK packages

This CLI scaffolds, validates, and submits — but the code your app actually imports lives in two published npm packages (the page-money / page-vite templates wire them for you):

Package	What it is
@civitai/blocks-react	The React hooks + iframe transport app authors call — useBlockContext, useBuzzWorkflow, useBlockResize, the /ui component pack, and the /testing dev hosts. Start here for the hook reference.
@civitai/app-sdk	The framework-agnostic contract under the hooks — manifest types, scope strings, the postMessage protocol, and the defineBlock validator (@civitai/app-sdk/blocks).

# Already installed by the scaffold; this is the explicit install line:
pnpm add @civitai/blocks-react @civitai/app-sdk react

The full hook-by-hook reference (with snippets) lives in each package's npm README. For the end-to-end walkthrough, see Build your first App.

Command reference

Command	What it does
civitai login [--token <t>] [--no-browser]	Browser OAuth device login by default (stores auto-refreshing tokens); --token stores a personal API key instead. Config at ~/.config/civitai/config.yaml, 0600. Also reads CIVITAI_TOKEN.
civitai whoami [--scopes] [--json]	Verify the stored token; print the authenticated user and a Capabilities section — credential type (OAuth login vs personal API key), Read Buzz balance, and Spend Buzz — decoded from the token's scope, so a money-path dead end (OAuth login can't spend) is visible before dev:live. --scopes also lists every granted scope; --json emits the user + credentialType/canReadBalance/canSpend/scopes (scriptable).
civitai buzz [--json]	Show your spendable Buzz balance (blue / green / yellow, plus a total). Needs a full-scope personal API key to read; an OAuth login token can't, and gets a clear "switch to a personal key" message. --json emits {blue,green,yellow,total} (scriptable — handy for before/after diffing a dev:live spend).
civitai app create [name] [dir] [--template static|page-vite|page-money] [--dir <path>] [--name <display>]	The friendly happy path. Scaffold a ready-to-build App, defaulting to the batteries-included page-money SDK template (default dir ./<slug>).
civitai app init [name] [dir] [...]	Same scaffolder as create with a no-build static default (back-compat alias).
civitai app dev-token <slug> [--env]	Mint a short-lived (~4h) dev block token for npm run dev:live — calls the invite-gated mint route with your stored credential, reading scopes from your local block.manifest.json (so it works on an unsubmitted slug). Prints the token (--env prints VITE_LIVE_BLOCK_TOKEN=<token>, paste-ready); warns at mint time if the token is read-only (can't spend). See Local dev loop.
civitai app dev-tunnel [blockId] [--port] [--tunnel-endpoint] [--idle-timeout]	(Pre-GA / dark) Preview your local dev server inside the real Civitai host at civitai.com/apps/dev/<blockId> — a prod-fidelity inner-dev-loop. Mints an ephemeral in-memory ssh keypair, opens a reverse tunnel from your dev port (start npm run dev:tunnel first) to the Civitai tunnel endpoint, prints the URL to open, and tears everything down on Ctrl-C or an idle timeout. Gated behind an Apps-author invite and a kill-switch flag that is off today, and the tunnel endpoint is not exposed yet — so it reports "not available" until it ships.
civitai app validate [dir] [--strict] [--json]	Best-effort local pre-check of block.manifest.json; emits non-fatal warnings (--strict fails on them). --json emits the structured result (ok, plus errors/warnings each with field/message) for scriptable parsing — still exits non-zero on failure. See Validate fidelity.
civitai app submit [dir] [--package-only] [--out f.zip] [--skip-validate]	Validate + package the source tree + upload it with your stored token (or, with no token, write the bundle + print next steps).
civitai app status [blockId] [--id <pubreq>] [--json]	Check the review/deploy status of your own submissions. No arg lists them all; a blockId (app slug) or --id shows one in detail (rejection reason if rejected, live URL once deployed). See Submission status.
civitai app withdraw [pubreq-id] [--id <pubreq>]	Withdraw your own pending submission (the pubreq_… id from civitai app status). Frees the slug so a fresh civitai app submit can replace it. Idempotent; only a pending request can be withdrawn. See Submission status.
civitai version	Print version / commit / build date.
civitai completion [shell]	Generate a shell-completion script.

Run civitai help, civitai app --help, or civitai <command> --help for the full details and examples.

Templates

• static — a no-build page app (index.html + a tiny app.js, block.manifest.json with page:{}, no build step).
• page-vite — a Vite + React page app with config-as-code build fields (buildCommand: "npm run build" + outputDir: "dist").
• page-money — a Vite + React + TypeScript full-page (W10) money-path app wired to the published App SDK (@civitai/blocks-react + @civitai/app-sdk): prompt → estimate → lazy consent → submit → poll → real Buzz spend, via useBuzzWorkflow / useRequestConsent / useBlockResize (never raw postMessage). Ships a dev:harness mock host, .env.* allowed parent-origin config, and a unit-test stub. Run npm run dev:harness (plain npm run dev renders blank without a host).

Local dev loop (harness: mock vs live)

A scaffolded App is a sandboxed iframe — npm run dev alone shows a blank screen because there's no host to send BLOCK_INIT. The page-money / page-vite templates ship a dev harness (the SDK's @civitai/blocks-react/testing hosts) with two modes:

Command	Mode	What it does
npm run dev:harness	mock (default)	Mounts the SDK mock host — synthetic replies, no real Buzz, no compute, no network. Safe to spam; drive money/error/insufficient-Buzz UX via on-screen scenarios or ? URL params. Start here.
npm run dev:live	live	Mounts the SDK live host (createLiveHost) — forwards the App protocol to the real Civitai backend with a pasted dev token (Bearer). Spends REAL Buzz / real compute.

⚠️ dev:live works on a pending (un-approved) app. The dev-token mint (POST /api/v1/blocks/dev-token) accepts a pending slug — right after a successful civitai app submit (status pending) it returns 200 with appId: pending-pubreq_… and dev:live mounts the live host against the pending app. For real generation you must mint with a full-scope personal API key; an OAuth (civitai login) token mints read-only (user:read:self) and cannot spend. Use civitai buzz / civitai whoami to confirm your credential can spend before a live run.

Live mode needs a short-lived dev block token. Mint it with civitai app dev-token (the CLI handles the invite-gated POST /api/v1/blocks/dev-token call with your stored credential — no hand-rolled curl) and paste it into .env.development.local as VITE_LIVE_BLOCK_TOKEN=:

# From your scaffolded project dir (reads scopes from block.manifest.json):
civitai app dev-token my-block --env >> .env.development.local
npm run dev:live

.env.development* is never committed (submit excludes it) and the token is short-lived (~4h) — re-run dev-token when it expires. Mint with a full-scope personal API key for real generation; an OAuth login mints a read-only token (the command warns you at mint time). With no token, dev:live fails safe (renders a notice, never spends). Live v1 covers the money path (estimate/submit/poll/cancel); pickers, checkpoint-set, App-Storage KV, and in-band Buzz purchase are mock-only.

Under the hood (the scaffold wires this — you don't configure it): dev:live routes the live host's backend calls through the vite dev proxy (server.proxy['/api']), not straight to civitai.com: createLiveHost fetches /api/... SAME-ORIGIN against the dev server (localhost:5186), and vite proxies that server-side to civitai with the Origin header rewritten to an allowlisted host. This is load-bearing — a direct cross-origin fetch from localhost is both blocked by CORS preflight and rejected by civitai's tRPC origin gate. The same-origin proxy + Origin rewrite fixes both. VITE_LIVE_HOST_ORIGIN overrides the proxy target (default https://civitai.com).

Which credential can spend? Only a full-scope personal API key can run a real dev:live generation — the default OAuth login can't:

Credential	Real dev:live generation?	How to get it
Personal API key (full scope)	✅ Yes — estimate → submit → generation → real Buzz	create it in the web UI at civitai.com/user/account, then civitai login --token <key> (a personal key carries AI Services)
civitai login (OAuth, default)	❌ No — viewer + catalog + app storage only	the civitai-cli client has no AI Services scope, so the server strips the spend scope — fine for read/identity dev:live, not generation

You can't mint a personal key over OAuth or the CLI (apiKey.add returns 403 without a full-scope session) — create it in the web UI. The dev token always grants user:read:self, so your viewer resolves on either path. For the scope mechanics behind this, see Submit & auth.

Env vars (VITE_BLOCK_ALLOWED_PARENT_ORIGINS, VITE_HARNESS_MODE, VITE_LIVE_BLOCK_TOKEN, …) and the scenario knobs are documented in depth in the scaffolded project's own README.md and .env.example — see internal/scaffold/templates/page-money/README.md.tmpl.

Examples

Two real example manifests live under examples/ (copied from the shipping civitai-block-* apps) — a good reference for a correct manifest:

• examples/buzz-generator.block.manifest.json
• examples/notepad.block.manifest.json

Both validate clean (examples_test.go asserts this so the claim stays true).

Browse the public API

Beyond authoring Apps, the CLI is a thin client for Civitai's public read REST API (GET /api/v1/**). These subcommands work anonymously — no login needed, because the data is public — but when you're logged in your stored token is sent automatically (pass --anon to force a no-auth request). Every command also takes --json to print the raw API JSON response for scripting.

Command	What it does	Notable flags
civitai models search	Search models (GET /api/v1/models)	--query, --tag, --username, --type, --base-model (repeatable), --sort, --period, --nsfw; paging --limit (≤100), --page, --cursor
civitai models get <id>	Get one model by id	--json, --anon
civitai model-versions get <id>	Get a model version by id (alias mv)	--json, --anon
civitai model-versions by-hash <hash>	Look up a model version by file hash (AutoV2, SHA256, …)	--json, --anon
civitai download <version-id>	Download a model version's file(s)	--model, --file, --all, --out, --out-dir, --no-verify, --force, --allow-nonmodel, --anon
civitai images search	Search images (GET /api/v1/images)	--model-id, --model-version-id, --post-id, --username, --sort, --period, --nsfw; paging --limit (≤200), --page, --cursor
civitai tags search	Search model tags	--query; paging --limit (≤200), --page
civitai creators search	Search creators	--query; paging --limit (≤200), --page
civitai users get <username-or-id>	Look up a user via public search (a number = exact id; a name = exact-username match, else it lists close matches)	--json, --anon
civitai articles search	Search articles (GET /api/v1/articles)	--query, --tags, --username, --sort, --nsfw; paging --limit (≤100), --cursor
civitai articles get <id>	Get one article by id	--json, --anon
civitai collections search	Search public collections (GET /api/v1/collections)	--query, --sort, --nsfw; paging --limit (≤100), --cursor
civitai collections get <id>	Get one collection by id	--json, --anon

Pagination. List commands print a compact footer with the next-page hint. models/images support both shallow --page and deep --cursor paging (the API caps page*limit at 1000 and 429s beyond it — prefer --cursor for deep paging); articles/collections are cursor-only (keyset feed — no --page); tags/creators are --page-only. Each endpoint caps --limit (models/articles/collections 100; images/tags/creators 200).

civitai models search --query "pony" --limit 5
civitai models get 4384
civitai model-versions by-hash 5D8D26E2A6
civitai articles get 32680
civitai images search --model-id 4384 --sort "Most Reactions" --json   # raw JSON for scripting

Filtering by base model. --base-model is repeatable and maps to the REST baseModels filter (an OR across the values). It's the key discovery filter for things --type can't separate — e.g. video checkpoints all share --type Checkpoint and are distinguished only by base model:

civitai models search --type Checkpoint --base-model "Wan Video 2.2 T2V-A14B"
civitai models search --base-model Pony --base-model Illustrious --limit 20

On-site-generation marker. In the human (non---json) output of models get and model-versions get, a version whose primary file is not model weights (type != "Model" — e.g. an on-site-generation registration that ships a training-data ZIP instead of the weights) is tagged [training data — no downloadable weights] so you can spot the trap before trying to download it. --json output is an unchanged raw passthrough.

Download model files

civitai download fetches the file(s) of a model version. Identify the version deterministically by its numeric version id, or resolve a model's default (primary/latest) published version with --model:

civitai download 128713                       # the version's primary file → ./<server-name>
civitai download --model 4384                 # resolve model 4384's default version, then download it
civitai download 128713 --out ./dreamshaper.safetensors
civitai download 128713 --file vae --out-dir ./models   # pick a file; write into a dir
civitai download 128713 --all --out-dir ./models        # every file in the version

Behavior:

• Identifier — exactly one of the positional <version-id> or --model <model-id> is required (no numeric-ambiguity guessing).
• File selection — defaults to the version's primary file. --file <name> selects one file (exact name, else a unique case-insensitive substring; ambiguous/none errors and lists the files). --all downloads every file.
• Output — --out <path> sets an exact target path (single file only). --out-dir <dir> writes server-named files into a directory (works with --all). Parent directories are created as needed. Default is the server-provided filename in the current directory.
• Streaming + atomicity — the body streams to <target>.part and is renamed into place only on success, so an interrupted run never leaves a truncated final file. Large files (10+ GB) are never buffered in memory. TTY-aware progress is printed to stderr. The Civitai download URL 302-redirects to signed storage; the CLI follows it.
• Auth — your stored login token (civitai login) or CIVITAI_API_KEY is used automatically; gated / early-access files need it (a 401/403 gives an actionable message). Public files download anonymously (--anon forces no token).
• Integrity (default on) — the streamed bytes are verified against the file's SHA256; a mismatch deletes the .part and fails. --no-verify skips it; a file with no published SHA256 downloads with a warning (not a hard failure).
• Idempotency — an already-present target (that verifies, or with --no-verify) is skipped with a note; --force re-downloads.
• On-site-generation guard — a version whose selected file is not model weights (type != "Model", e.g. a training-data ZIP) is refused by default; pass --allow-nonmodel to download it anyway.

Validate fidelity

civitai app validate is a best-effort LOCAL mirror of the platform's approve-time validator (BlockManifestValidator). The server is the source of truth at review time — passing validate locally is a strong pre-check, not a guarantee of approval.

It checks block.manifest.json against a vendored JSON Schema (schema/app-block.manifest.schema.json, syntactic shape) plus the ported semantic rules the server runs (sandbox trust-tier allowlist, page ⇒ iframe, required iframe sub-fields, the renderMode tier gate, targets[].slotId registry membership) and structural project checks. A few checks are necessarily approximate locally (the slot registry is vendored; per-app origin-binding/scope checks the CLI can't see are not reproduced).

The durable fix is a server-side civitai app validate endpoint that calls the real BlockManifestValidator (the faithful contract), with this schema published as the syntactic half. See AGENTS.md for the full caveat and how the vendored schema + Go checks are kept in sync.

Submit & auth

civitai login (no flags) runs the OAuth device-authorization grant: it prints a URL + a short code, you approve in your browser, and the CLI stores a short-lived access token (1h) plus a refresh token (30d) that it rotates automatically before requests and once on a 401. It requests the scopes UserRead | AppBlocksSubmit (== 33554433, exactly the civitai-cli OAuth client's allowedScopes) — identity plus Apps submit, which gates both app submit and the dev-token mint. It deliberately does not request AIServicesWrite: the server's device-flow scope check is all-or-nothing, so asking for a scope the client doesn't allow would reject the whole login. A login token therefore drives the read/identity dev:live paths (viewer, catalog, app storage) but — for a generation app whose only ai:write:budgeted scope is stripped — cannot estimate, submit, or spend real Buzz. For real generation use a full-scope personal API key (see the credential table under Local dev loop above), which carries AI Services. civitai login --token <key> stores a personal API key instead (no refresh). CIVITAI_TOKEN overrides the stored credential (treated as a personal key).

civitai app submit:

• always validates + packages the canonical source ZIP, then
• uploads it with your stored token to the token-authenticated route POST /api/v1/blocks/submit-version (Authorization: Bearer). OAuth tokens refresh transparently. Set CIVITAI_SUBMIT_PATH to override the route.
• With no token configured (and not --package-only), it instead writes the .zip and prints the next steps (civitai login, or web upload at /apps/submit).

--package-only always just writes the .zip and stops.

After you submit: review → approve → deploy

A successful submit does not publish your app — it queues it for moderator review. The lifecycle is:

1. submit → your submission lands at /apps/my-submissions with status pending.
2. review → a moderator reviews the manifest + files. They either approve or reject (with a reason you can read inline, then fix and resubmit).
3. deploy → on approval, the platform builds and deploys your app (injects its build recipe → builds the image → deploys → programs the <blockId>.civit.ai DNS record). A few minutes after approval it serves live at https://<blockId>.civit.ai/.

Before approval, https://<blockId>.civit.ai/ 404s — submitting does not make the subdomain serve (but dev:live works against a pending app — see Local dev loop). For the full end-to-end walkthrough (build → submit → review → deploy), see the Build your first App guide.

Need to change the bundle while a request is still pending? Withdraw it first to free the slug, then resubmit:

$ civitai app status                          # find the pubreq_ id
$ civitai app withdraw pubreq_01HZX           # frees the slug
$ civitai app submit                          # resubmit the new bundle

civitai app withdraw <pubreq-id> (or --id <pubreq>) withdraws your own pending publish request. It is idempotent (an already-withdrawn request still returns success) and only a pending request can be withdrawn — an already approved/rejected one cannot.

Submission status

civitai app status checks where your own submissions are in that lifecycle without leaving the terminal. It calls the token-authenticated, self-scoped route GET /api/v1/blocks/submissions with your stored credential — you only ever see your own submissions (the same token that submitted can read its status; OAuth tokens need the Apps submit scope).

With no argument it lists every submission, newest first:

$ civitai app status
BLOCK_ID    VERSION  STATUS    DEPLOY    SUBMITTED   URL
gen-matrix  0.6.0    approved  live      2026-06-22  https://gen-matrix.civit.ai/
my-block    0.2.0    pending   -         2026-06-21  -
old-app     0.1.0    approved  building  2026-06-19  -

Pass a blockId (app slug) or --id <pubreq_id> to see one in detail — including the rejection reason if it was rejected (so you can fix + resubmit) and the live URL once it is approved and deployed:

$ civitai app status gen-matrix
Block ID:         gen-matrix
Version:          0.6.0
Publish request:  pubreq_01HZX
Status:           rejected
Deploy state:     -
Submitted:        2026-06-22 09:05 CDT
Reviewed:         2026-06-22 11:40 CDT

Rejection reason:
  the budgeted scope needs the per-app Sybil cap signed off first

Not live yet — gen-matrix.civit.ai only serves after the app is approved and deployed (deployState 'live').

--json emits the raw response for scripting. An empty list prints a friendly "run civitai app submit" hint; with no token it points you at civitai login.

Configuration

Setting	Config key	Env var	Default
Personal API key	token	CIVITAI_TOKEN	—
OAuth tokens (device login)	auth_kind, access_token, refresh_token, token_expiry, scope	—	—
API base URL	base_url	CIVITAI_BASE_URL	https://civitai.com
Submit endpoint	—	CIVITAI_SUBMIT_PATH	/api/v1/blocks/submit-version

Config lives at ~/.config/civitai/config.yaml (honours XDG_CONFIG_HOME), written owner-readable only.

Troubleshooting

• no token configured — run civitai login (or set CIVITAI_TOKEN).
• unauthorized (401) — your token is invalid/expired. OAuth tokens refresh automatically; if the refresh token has also expired, run civitai login again. For a personal key, create a new one at https://civitai.com/user/account and civitai login --token <key>.
• forbidden (403) / service unavailable (503) — your account may lack Apps access while the feature is in its invite-only beta (see the warning at the top of this README). Submission is limited to invited beta testers until Apps reaches general availability.
• validation failed — read each - ... line; fix the manifest, or pass --skip-validate to package anyway (the server will still re-validate).
• <dir> is not empty — refusing to overwrite — app init won't clobber an existing directory; pick a new name or remove the directory.

Development

make ci      # go mod tidy + vet + test + build (mirrors CI)
make test
make build   # -> bin/civitai
make fmt
go test ./... -cover

• Language: Go 1.25, Cobra (commands) + Viper (config).
• Layout / conventions / how to add a command / release process: see AGENTS.md.
• Contributing: see CONTRIBUTING.md.

CI (.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs go vet, gofmt -s -l ., go test ./..., and go build ./... on every push/PR.

Releasing

Releases are built by goreleaser from a GitHub Actions workflow on a v* tag push:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

This cross-compiles for linux/darwin/windows × amd64/arm64, stamps version/commit/date, and publishes a GitHub Release with archives + checksums.txt plus a Homebrew tap bump. See AGENTS.md for the full process and the secrets it needs (HOMEBREW_TAP_GITHUB_TOKEN).

License

Apache License 2.0.

Documentation

Index

• Variables

Variables

var ExamplesFS embed.FS

ExamplesFS holds the real example manifests (copied from the shipping civitai-block-* apps). They are embedded so the validate test can assert the "examples validate clean" claim against the same files the README points to.

var SchemaJSON []byte

SchemaJSON is the vendored App manifest JSON Schema, embedded so the CLI validates against the same contract it ships. The file is the canonical copy intended to also be published server-side (see README).