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The vizzy CLI

The Vizzy app ships a vizzy command line tool — the same engine as the app, no window required. It does four things:

  • Render any .vizzy.md to images (PNG, JPEG, TIFF, HEIC, AVIF) — the piece that lets a coding agent author a diagram and drop the image straight into your repo.
  • Lint files for problems the renderer silently ignores — broken links, unsupported HTML, stray edges — so you can gate CI on it.
  • Drive the running app — focus a node, jump to a document, open a hint, or read what a window is showing, so an agent can navigate the canvas with you.
  • Publish a diagram or a whole folder to a shareable usevizzy.com link — sign in once with vizzy login, then vizzy publish from any script or agent.

Install the command line tool

Section titled “Install the command line tool”

The CLI lives inside the app, and on its first launch the app installs the vizzy launcher into /usr/local/bin automatically whenever that folder is writable without admin rights. Often there’s nothing to do — just confirm it worked:

Terminal window
vizzy --help
vizzy version      # print the installed version

If vizzy isn’t found, install it explicitly either way:

  • Vizzy ▸ Install Command Line Tool… in the app (you may be asked for your password if /usr/local/bin needs admin rights), or
  • headlessly, from a script or a coding agent — this is what usevizzy.com/prompt.md uses:
Terminal window
/Applications/Vizzy.app/Contents/MacOS/Vizzy install-cli

install-cli never prompts: if the folder needs admin rights it prints the exact sudo … install-cli command to run and exits non-zero.

The launcher stays pointed at the app automatically — each time you open Vizzy it re-links the installed vizzy to the running app, so moving the app or taking an update keeps the command working without re-installing.

Open the app from the terminal

Section titled “Open the app from the terminal”

Run vizzy with no subcommand to open the current folder, or pass paths to open specific files or folders:

Terminal window
vizzy                       # open the current directory in Vizzy
vizzy ~/Code/myproject      # open a folder
vizzy vizzy/auth.vizzy.md   # open a single diagram file

This reuses a running instance, focusing the existing window rather than launching a second copy.

Where to next

Section titled “Where to next”