CLI flags

Run friday --help from a terminal to see the canonical, version-specific list. This page is the lookup table: every flag, its short form (if any), what it does, and where to read the concept behind it. Conceptual entry points live on the linked pages.

All flags

Flag	Short	What it does	See
--prompt "<text>"		Start Friday with an initial message (Autostart). Defaults to 10x approval and Autonomous working style unless overridden.	Autostart mode
--one-shot		Exit after the initial prompt finishes. Requires --prompt. Cannot combine with approval-mode flags.	Autostart mode
--worktree [BRANCH]	--wt [BRANCH]	Run the session inside a sibling git worktree. With no argument, Friday auto-generates a branch name. With an argument, the worktree is based on that local or remote branch.	Worktrees, Parallelize work with worktrees
--cowboy	-c	Start in Cowboy mode (no git workflow, no branches, no merge queue). Auto-enabled when launched outside a git repo.	Cowboy mode
--base-path <PATH>		Target a directory other than the current working directory. Useful for scripts and for editing config trees outside the repo you launched from.	Cowboy mode
--2x		Approval mode: ask before every command.	Approval modes
--5x		Approval mode: auto-run shell, ask before commits and PRs. This is the default when no approval flag is set.	Approval modes
--10x		Approval mode: auto-run everything.	Approval modes
--update		Run brew update && brew upgrade friday-beta and exit. Handled by the brew-installed friday wrapper script, not by Python argparse.	Installation
--version		Print the installed version and exit. Handled by the wrapper script, not by Python argparse.	Installation
--help	-h	Print the canonical flag reference and exit.

The three approval flags (--2x, --5x, --10x) are mutually exclusive. --one-shot cannot combine with any of them, since Autostart sets approval to 10x implicitly.

Common combinations

# Default. GIT mode if launched in a git repo, Cowboy otherwise. 5x approval.
friday

# Cautious session in an unfamiliar repo.
friday --2x

# Scriptable one-shot. Runs the prompt to completion, then exits.
friday --prompt "fix the failing test in test_auth.py" --one-shot

# Second feature in parallel. Sibling worktree, separate session and PR.
friday --wt

# Edit a config tree outside any repo.
friday --cowboy --base-path ~/.config

# Autostart inside a worktree.
friday --wt --prompt "add user authentication"

Read next

• Autostart mode for the --prompt and --one-shot flow.
• Approval modes for --2x, --5x, and --10x.
• Cowboy mode for --cowboy and --base-path.
• Worktrees and Parallelize work with worktrees for --worktree / --wt.
• Installation for --update and --version.