CLI & launcher reference

The terminal command is the smallest part of Sonderr — and worth understanding completely, because it’s also the installer, the updater’s watchdog, and the thing that guarantees the workspace you open is the version you think it is. This page is the full CLI reference: the launcher, the flags, the install layout, the update gate and the data map.

1 · The launcher philosophy

There is intentionally no separate “AI CLI” experience in Sonderr v1.5+ — no chat-in-your-terminal, no flags that accept prompts. The terminal does one thing: it starts the local runtime, the runtime serves the workspace at http://127.0.0.1:4173, and the browser tab is the product. This is a design decision, not a missing feature: the workspace’s real interface — task cards, artifacts, Studios boards, download cards — can’t be honest inside a TTY, and local-first means the heavy lifting happens on your machine either way.

2 · The install script, precisely

The official install is one command, and it does exactly this:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dxn111/sonderr/main/install.sh | sh

It downloads the latest main source, installs it under ~/.local/share/sonderr-v1.5, links the sonderr command into ~/.local/bin, and installs dependencies from the lockfile. It never uses sudo. Reinstalling over a recognized install preserves the previous folder as a timestamped backup instead of overwriting it. The script tracks main — it is not a signed release package — so review it before running if that matters for your threat model; it’s short on purpose. Requires Node.js 20+, npm and Git.

On compatible Linux x64 systems the installer also offers the Sonderr-v1 local model: a SHA-256-verified Q4_0 GGUF plus bundled llama.cpp CPU runtime, about 370 MB, landing under ~/.sonderr — only after asking. Other platforms use the merged-model path with a CPU-only PyTorch/Transformers runtime.

3 · Commands & flags

• sonderr — start the local runtime, open the browser automatically.
• sonderr --no-open — start without opening the browser (for SSH boxes, scripts, or when you already have a tab pinned).
• sonderr --port 4300 — bind a specific port instead of the default.

That’s the whole launcher surface, and that’s deliberate. Port behavior: the runtime starts on 4173; if it’s busy it moves to the next available local port and says so. Everything the browser tab needs is served from that port only — there is no second daemon, no phone-home service, no background helper.

4 · The update gate

Since v1.5.10, every workspace start on a managed install checks the official GitHub Releases endpoint. The check sends a normal HTTPS request — GitHub can see your IP and request metadata, and nothing else: no version, no prompts, no files, no credentials. Comparison happens on your machine. A newer stable release blocks the workspace until it’s installed; there is no “skip this version.” Choosing Install update & restart downloads the exact tag, installs locked dependencies, keeps the previous folder as a timestamped backup and restarts on the same port and workspace. If any step fails, the updater restores the previous install and the old version stays blocked — fail-closed, on purpose. Diagnostics land in ~/.sonderr/update.log, owner-only.

5 · The data map

• ~/.local/share/sonderr-v1.5/ — the application (managed installs). Configurable via XDG_DATA_HOME / SONDERR_INSTALL_DIR.
• ~/.local/bin/sonderr — the launcher link.
• ~/.sonderr/ — your data: sessions and store, credentials (owner-only), MCP config, Sonderr-v1 model files, task notes, update.log.
• Your workspace — whatever directory you’re working in. Tools stay inside it; symlink escapes are rejected.

6 · Development checkouts

A source checkout (cloned repo, your own branch) is exempt from the update gate — the updater recognizes development installs and never touches them, which is exactly what you want when hacking on Sonderr itself. Managed install and dev checkout can coexist: the gate and the required-update flow apply only to the standard install under ~/.local/share/sonderr-v1.5 (or its configured equivalent). One caveat from the updater docs: the one-click flow currently runs on POSIX systems; Windows managed installs follow each release’s manual upgrade instructions.

7 · Uninstalling

Three things to remove, all plain files: the app folder (~/.local/share/sonderr-v1.5), the link (~/.local/bin/sonderr), and — if you’re done for good — the data directory (~/.sonderr), which holds your sessions and credentials. Removing the app and link but keeping ~/.sonderr preserves everything for a future reinstall; the installer will pick it up as a recognized setup.