The Lune command line app

The Lune command line app installs the Lune MCP server in supported local agents. It also handles sign-in and teams from a terminal, can create access keys, and reports on its own setup.

The command line app is optional. Research belongs in your AI agent, where Lune's MCP tools run; the command line app's own lookups are for quick checks.

Install it

npm install -g @retrograde-labs/lune-cli

It needs Node.js 22.12 or later. If you don't have Node, install it from nodejs.org or your package manager.

lune login

This opens a browser tab where you sign in with your Lune account. The command line app keeps the sign-in. You sign in again only after lune logout, for a new --profile, or after 90 days without use. To sign in with an access key instead, run lune login --api-key lune_your_access_key.

lune whoami

Shows the team your sign-in bills (your personal team after a browser sign-in), its plan, today's requests against the daily allowance, your credit balance, and how you signed in. It needs the account:read scope, which a browser sign-in and a key made with the default scopes both carry.

Connect Lune to a local AI agent

The command line app writes the MCP config for these agents in one step:

lune install --client claude-code
lune install --client cursor
lune install --client vscode
lune install --client codex
lune install --client opencode

Sign in with lune login first. Run lune install with no flag to pick from a list. It asks whether to create a new access key or use one you already have. A new key goes to the team you choose (the question comes up only if you belong to more than one) and carries the four default scopes. The key then goes into the agent's configuration file. If you signed in with an access key, the install reuses that key.

Some apps connect through their own interface instead, like Claude Desktop, Perplexity, and Manus. For those, the command prints a link to the matching recipe on the dashboard:

lune install --client claude-desktop

To remove Lune from an agent later:

lune uninstall --client cursor

For apps set up inside the app itself, lune uninstall points you to the Credentials page to revoke the key or the connected app.

Use Lune in the connected agent

After installation, open the local agent and ask it to search papers, read full text, trace citations, compare methods, verify claims, or find research guidance. The agent picks the Lune tools on its own.

For a quick check without an agent:

lune papers search "diffusion model guidance"
lune guidance search "how to design an ablation"

Each lookup counts against your daily allowance, like the matching tool call.

Manage your account

lune teams list                  # all teams you belong to
lune teams use <slug>            # the team lune keys create uses
lune teams current               # show that team
 
lune keys create --name laptop   # create an access key (shown once)

lune keys create takes --scopes and --expires to choose the key's scopes and expiry date. It needs a browser sign-in: a session signed in with an access key can't create keys. To list or revoke keys, use the Credentials page.

Multiple identities

If you use Lune for both personal and team work, the --profile flag keeps them apart.

lune --profile work login
lune --profile work teams use acme
lune --profile work keys create --name work-laptop

Without --profile, the command line app uses default. Each profile has its own sign-in and its own team for lune keys create. A browser sign-in always bills your personal team, whichever team the profile has selected. To bill a shared team from the command line, sign that profile in with an access key created in the team.

Diagnostics

lune doctor

Prints the version and profile, whether a sign-in is saved and which kind, the profile's team, whether Lune's service answers, and each agent it detects, with the config file lune install would write for it. It doesn't check that the saved sign-in still works, and it doesn't test the MCP connection. To test the connection, use the check in Troubleshooting.