Commands

Athena Flow exposes a default runtime command and several subcommands.

`athena-flow` (default)

Starts the Athena runtime in the current or specified project directory.

athena-flow [options]

Aliases: athena

This is the primary command. It generates a temporary Claude Code settings file that registers athena-hook-forwarder as the hook handler, opens the Unix Domain Socket listener, and renders the terminal UI. All flags documented in Flags & Options apply here.

Examples

# Start in current directory
athena
 
# Start in a specific project
athena-flow --project-dir=/home/user/my-project
 
# Start with a workflow and custom isolation
athena-flow --isolation=minimal --workflow=e2e-test-builder
 
# Use light theme with verbose output
athena-flow --verbose --theme=light
 
# Use ASCII-safe glyphs
athena-flow --ascii

`athena-flow setup`

Re-runs the interactive setup wizard to reconfigure theme, harness, and workflow settings.

athena-flow setup

Updates the global config at ~/.config/athena/config.json. Existing session data in SQLite is preserved.

When to Use It

Switching themes
Changing the active harness
Activating or deactivating a workflow
Resetting after manual config edits break something

`athena-flow sessions`

Launches the interactive session picker. Navigate with arrow keys and press Enter to resume a session.

athena-flow sessions

`athena-flow resume`

Resumes a previous Athena session. Without a session ID, resumes the most recent session for the current project directory.

athena-flow resume
athena-flow resume <sessionId>

`athena-flow exec`

Runs Athena non-interactively in CI/script mode. Takes a prompt string as argument.

athena-flow exec "<prompt>"

Exec mode supports additional flags for automation:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Emit JSONL events to stdout
`--output-last-message`	Write final assistant message to a file
`--ephemeral`	Do not persist session data
`--on-permission`	Policy for permission requests: `allow`, `deny`, `fail` (default: `fail`)
`--on-question`	Policy for AskUserQuestion: `empty`, `fail` (default: `fail`)
`--timeout-ms`	Hard timeout for exec run in milliseconds
`--continue`	Resume most recent exec session, or `--continue=<athenaSessionId>`

Examples

# Simple non-interactive run
athena-flow exec "summarize current repo status"
 
# CI-friendly with JSON output and auto-deny permissions
athena-flow exec "run tests" --json --on-permission=deny --on-question=empty
 
# With timeout
athena-flow exec "lint all files" --timeout-ms=60000
 
# Ephemeral (no session persistence)
athena-flow exec "check for security issues" --ephemeral

Slash Commands (in-session)

Once Athena is running, type /command in the input bar to invoke built-in commands:

Command	Aliases	Description
`/help`	`/h`, `/?`	List all available commands
`/clear`	`/cls`	Clear message history
`/quit`	`/q`, `/exit`	Exit Athena
`/stats`	`/s`	Show session statistics
`/context`	`/ctx`	Show token breakdown and current context size
`/sessions`		Open the interactive session picker
`/tasks`	`/todo`	Print full task list snapshot to the feed
`/setup`		Re-run the setup wizard

Plugin skills also appear as slash commands once their plugin is loaded. See Plugins for details.