Dstl8 CLI
Your fast on-ramp and TUI
The dstl8 CLI is the on-ramp to Dstl8. The flow is: sign up, sign in, add sources so logs flow in, install MCP into your AI client. After that, your AI agent can investigate incidents, query logs, and analyze patterns through Dstl8's MCP tools.
The CLI also ships an interactive TUI for browsing workspaces, sources, incidents, heatmaps, and logs from a terminal.
Setup
The flow: sign up → sign in → add sources → install MCP.
Install the CLI
Pick the option that matches your environment. Each installs the same dstl8 binary.
Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install control-theory/dstl8/dstl8
Shell installer
curl -fsSL https://install.dstl8.ai/script/dstl8-cli | sh
npm
npm install -g dstl8 (or npx dstl8)
Nix
nix profile install github:control-theory/dstl8
Manual
Download from GitHub Releases
Verify with dstl8 version.
1. Sign up
For new users:
dstl8 signupOpens your browser to create a Dstl8 account and organization. Once you're done, the CLI saves a long-lived API token locally, and a Default workspace is created for you to start with.
2. Sign in
If you already have a Dstl8 account, or you're setting up a new device:
Opens your browser to authenticate. If you just ran dstl8 signup, you're already signed in and can skip this.
Confirm with dstl8 profiles — the active profile is marked ►.
3. Add sources
Adding a source is what gets logs flowing into Dstl8. dstl8 sources add is an interactive wizard for every source type. It auto-detects local config (~/.aws/credentials, ~/.kube/config, vercel.json, supabase/config.toml, .git/config) and pre-fills sensible defaults.
For pull-based sources (kubernetes, cloudwatch), the CLI verifies the connection before exiting. For webhook-based sources (vercel, supabase, otlp, github), the wizard prints a webhook URL and any auto-generated tokens — paste those into the upstream provider to complete the setup.
For scripted setups, pass --yes with the relevant flags to skip prompts:
Confirm logs are flowing:
4. Install MCP
This is the step that connects Dstl8 to your AI agent. dstl8 install auto-detects MCP-compatible clients on your machine and configures them:
Supported clients:
Claude Code
dstl8 install claude-code
Claude Desktop
dstl8 install claude-desktop, or download dstl8.mcpb from the latest release and double-click
Codex
dstl8 install codex
LM Studio
dstl8 install lm-studio
Cursor
dstl8 install --include-experimental cursor
Windsurf
dstl8 install --include-experimental windsurf
Restart your AI client after installing so it picks up the new MCP server. Your AI agent can now query Dstl8.
The TUI
dstl8 tui opens an interactive terminal UI for browsing your data without leaving the shell. Most investigation work runs through your AI client once MCP is set up, but the TUI is useful for quick visual checks and one-off navigation.
The TUI splits into org-level views (Overview, Workspaces, Incidents, Sources) and workspace views (Dashboard, Incidents, Heatmap, Log Viewer). Use ← → to switch tabs, ↑ ↓ or j k to navigate, Enter to drill in, and Esc to go back. Ctrl+C quits.
Sources
The org-level Sources tab lists every source connected to your organization. Press Enter to drill into streams, then Enteragain on a stream to see its logs. Press a on any source or stream to assign it to a workspace.
Workspace dashboard
Each workspace has a Dashboard with a Möbius AI summary at the top, a list of active incidents, and the sources feeding the workspace. Press Enter on the Möbius summary for a full analysis.
Incidents
The Incidents tab gives you a sortable, filterable table — Open, Resolved, Closed, or All. Press s to change the sort, f to cycle filters, and Enter on a row to open the incident detail view.
The detail view renders Möbius's full analysis: summary, description, evidence, recommended actions, alongside the impacted resources and event timeline.
Heatmap
The Heatmap plots sentiment over time by stream, namespace, or service. Anomalies surface as red dots on the affected row. Press w to change the time window, g to change the grouping, and Enter on a row to view the filtered logs for that group.
Log Viewer
The Log Viewer combines a stacked severity bar chart (1-minute buckets) with a scrollable log table. Press Enter on a log line to open a detail modal with full metadata. c copies the body to your clipboard.
For the complete list of keybindings across every view, see the README.
Other CLI commands
A handful of commands are useful outside the TUI, especially in scripts and CI.
Tailing and fetching logs
dstl8 logs tail streams logs to stdout in real time:
dstl8 logs fetch pulls a time range and exits — useful for scripts and verifying ingestion:
Time arguments accept relative (30m, 1h, 24h, 7d) or absolute (2024-01-15, 2024-01-15T09:30:00) values. --json produces NDJSON for piping.
Profiles and workspaces
Configuration lives in ~/.config/dstl8/. Use --profile <name> on any command to run it against a specific profile without switching.
More
The full command reference, every flag, and release notes live in the dstl8-cli README and on the releases page.
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