Agent Overview - Pretorin CLI Documentation
Description: Documentation for the Pretorin CLI - compliance tools for developers and AI agents.

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# Agent Overview

The `agent` command group runs autonomous compliance tasks using the Codex agent runtime. This is the Pretorin-hosted model mode — Pretorin manages the AI runtime and routes model calls through its `/v1` endpoints.

If you already use another AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), use the MCP mode instead (`pretorin mcp-serve`) and connect Pretorin tools to your existing agent.

## Running a Compliance Task

    # Free-form task
    pretorin agent run "Assess AC-02 implementation gaps for my system"

    # Use a predefined skill
    pretorin agent run --skill gap-analysis "Analyze my system compliance gaps"

## Options

Option | Description
--- | ---
`--skill <name>` | Use a predefined skill template
`--model <model>` | Model override
`--base-url <url>` | Custom model API endpoint
`--working-dir <path>` | Working directory for code analysis
`--no-stream` | Disable streaming output
`--legacy` | Use legacy OpenAI Agents SDK (deprecated)

## Hosted Model Setup

Use this setup when you want `pretorin agent run` to call Pretorin-hosted model endpoints.

    # 1. Login with your Pretorin API key
    pretorin login

    # 2. Optional: custom/self-hosted Pretorin model endpoint
    pretorin config set model_api_base_url https://platform.pretorin.com/v1

    # 3. Validate runtime
    pretorin agent doctor
    pretorin agent install

    # 4. Run a task
    pretorin agent run "Assess AC-02 implementation gaps for my system"

## Model Key Precedence

The agent runtime resolves model keys in this order:

1. `OPENAI_API_KEY` environment variable
2. `config.api_key` (from `pretorin login`)
3. `config.openai_api_key`

If `OPENAI_API_KEY` is set in your shell, it overrides the stored Pretorin login key.

## Custom Model Endpoints

The agent supports any OpenAI-spec LLM endpoint, including:

- Azure OpenAI
- vLLM
- LiteLLM
- Ollama

Configure via `--base-url` flag or the `model_api_base_url` config key.

## How It Works

The agent runtime uses the Codex SDK with an isolated binary managed under `~/.pretorin/codex`. The agent:

1. Downloads and pins a specific Codex binary version
2. Runs in an isolated `CODEX_HOME` environment
3. Automatically injects the Pretorin MCP server for compliance tool access
4. Streams events and output in real-time (unless `--no-stream` is passed)