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CLI Brief Creation

Launch the Hamster CLI directly from a brief page so your terminal starts in the right context immediately.

Overview

When you want to work on a specific brief from the command line, you do not need to set up context manually. Each brief in Hamster has an option to open it in the CLI, which generates a setup command that includes the brief ID. Running that command authenticates you (if needed) and points the CLI at that brief in one step. This is the fastest way to go from reviewing a brief in the browser to executing tasks in your terminal or AI coding tool.

Briefs are created in the Hamster web app. The CLI connects to an existing brief and lets you manage tasks against it — it does not create briefs itself.

How It Works

  1. Open the brief in Hamster — Navigate to the brief you want to work on. You can find it in the Briefs section of the sidebar or by following a link from a task.

  2. Copy the CLI command — Find the "Open in CLI" option on the brief page. It produces a curl command that includes the brief ID as a query parameter:

    curl -s "https://tryhamster.com/cli?brief=<brief-id>" | bash

  3. Run the command — Paste it into your terminal. The script installs task-master if it is not already present, authenticates you if you are not already signed in, and sets the brief as the active context.

  4. Start working — Once the script completes, the CLI prints your task list for that brief and confirms it is ready. From here, run tm list to see tasks, tm next to get the next recommended task, or ask your AI coding assistant to begin work based on the current context.

Key Capabilities

  • Pre-filled context: The setup command carries the brief ID, so the CLI switches to that brief automatically without prompting you to choose one.
  • Authentication included: If you are not already authenticated, the script runs the sign-in flow before setting the context. If you are already signed in, it skips the authentication step entirely.
  • Context switching: If you were working on a different brief before running the command, the script detects the mismatch and switches to the requested brief. Your existing session is preserved.
  • AI coding tool integration: Once the CLI is connected to a brief, AI coding assistants configured with the MCP server can access the brief's task list as context for their work. See Background Agents for details on enabling this.
  • No-browser support: The brief-scoped setup command supports the same one-time code authentication flow as the standard CLI setup, so it works in SSH and remote environments.

Creating Briefs

Briefs are created in the Hamster web app, not from the CLI. To create a new brief:

  1. Go to the Briefs section in the sidebar.
  2. Click "New brief" and give it a title.
  3. Write your brief content and add any context documents.
  4. Generate a plan when you are ready — this creates the tasks the CLI will manage.
  5. Once tasks exist, use the "Open in CLI" option to connect from your terminal.

For full details on writing and editing briefs, see Creating Briefs.

Tips

  • Run the "Open in CLI" command from the brief that has active tasks. The CLI will show your task list immediately after setup.
  • If you work across multiple briefs, use task-master context brief to switch between them without running the full setup command again.
  • Run tm next after connecting to a brief to see which task the CLI recommends starting with, based on priority and dependencies.
  • The CLI is for managing and executing tasks. To edit a brief's content or requirements, use the Hamster web app.
  • If you have IDE rules configured, run task-master rules --setup after connecting to a brief to sync those rules to your current editor.

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