> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://beta-docs-prod.indices.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# CLI

The Indices CLI is how we recommend coding agents use Indices. In practice, we find agents perform more efficiently using CLI compared to MCP.

**Repository:** [github.com/indicesio/cli](https://github.com/indicesio/cli)

***

## Why CLI over MCP for agents?

For many operations, the CLI is significantly more efficient than MCP:

* **File uploads:** An agent can pipe a file directly — `cat file.pdf | indices runs create --stdin` — rather than encoding it to base64 and emitting every character as tokens through the model
* **Easier configuration:** Easier login by using `indices login`, vs vendor-specific configuration steps when using MCP.

***

## Installation

**macOS and Linux:**

```bash theme={null}
curl -fsSL https://get.indices.io | sh
```

**Windows:** Download the `.zip` from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/indicesio/cli/releases), extract the binary, and add it to your PATH.

**Skill:** Teach your agent how to use Indices, by installing the skill:

```bash theme={null}
npx skills add indicesio/cli --all --global
```

Now, simply use your coding agent in natural language. When you ask for an action to be taken, Indices should be invoked to do that task. You may need to prompt it to "use Indices", or add appropriate guidance to your system prompt.

***

## CLI reference

Run: `indices --help`