A fast, minimal CLI for using OpenRouter models from your terminal. zo handles one-off questions, pipelines, multi-turn chat, file edits, workspace tools, shell commands, web search, and image generation without turning every request into an unrestricted agent session.
cargo install zo-cli
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY='sk-or-v1-...'Pre-built binaries and full setup instructions are available in the documentation.
- Progressive output — Stream Markdown with syntax-highlighted code in a terminal and plain text in pipelines.
- Flexible model selection — Use aliases such as
/soland/sonnet, fuzzy matches, or full OpenRouter model IDs. - Reasoning control — Set effort per request, custom model, or globally.
- File references and scoped output — Read with
@file, write with!file, or read and update with@!file; globs are supported. - Workspace file tools — Let the model inspect a project with
--files reador edit it with--files write. - Shell tools and policies — Enable live command execution with
--shelland control approvals through policy files. - Web search — Add OpenRouter server-side search with
--web. - Interactive chat — Keep context across turns with multiline input and file-path completion.
- Unix pipelines — Combine prompts with piped command output or redirect zo's plain-text response.
- Image generation — Generate one image directly to a workspace path with
--image. - Custom models — Define aliases with system prompts and model-specific reasoning effort.
- Explicit safety controls — Review diffs, opt into hidden paths, inspect tool calls, and choose interactive or automated approval behavior.
# Ask a question; quotes are optional for simple prompts
zo How do I unpack a tar file into a directory
# Select a model and reasoning effort
zo --reasoning-effort medium /sonnet 'Explain async Rust'# Include files or grant a specific output path
zo '@src/*.rs Review this module'
zo 'Document this project in !ARCHITECTURE.md'
zo 'Add error handling to @!src/main.rs'# Let the model inspect or edit the current workspace
zo --files read'Explain how configuration is loaded'
zo --files write 'Refactor the parser and update its tests'# Enable shell commands or current web results
zo --shell 'Run the test suite and summarize any failures'
zo --web 'Summarize the latest Rust release announcement'# Compose with other commands
git diff | zo 'Review these changes for bugs'# Continue interactively
zo --chat --files read'Help me understand this project'# Generate an image
zo --image assets/icon.png 'Minimal blue terminal icon'zo starts without workspace or shell tools. File markers grant access only to the named paths; --files grants access inside the current workspace; and --shell is separately opt-in and policy-controlled. Existing-file changes show a diff and ask for approval unless --accept-writes is set. Hidden tool and output paths remain blocked unless --hidden is supplied.
See zo.svent.dev for the quick start, complete permission model, configuration, and examples.
MIT License — see LICENSE.