Launch flags

Running dn with no flags opens a fresh session. Every flag below is a shortcut for something you’d otherwise do after launch — pick an agent, send a prompt, cap autonomy, or run headlessly for a script.

# Start with an agent, a model, and an initial prompt
dn --agent web-pentester --model anthropic/claude-opus-4-7 \
   --prompt "audit https://example.com for injection surfaces"

# Headless: run the prompt, print to stdout, exit
dn --print --prompt "summarize this week's sandbox audit findings"

# Autonomous with a 100-step budget, resuming a prior thread
dn --auto --max-steps 100 --resume 7f2a3b

Platform and identity

Flag	Effect
--profile <name>	Use a saved profile
--server <url>	Platform API URL — mutually exclusive with --profile
--api-key <key>	API key; requires --server
--organization <slug>	Organization slug override
--workspace <key>	Workspace override
--project <slug>	Project override

Environment variables DREADNODE_SERVER, DREADNODE_API_KEY, DREADNODE_ORGANIZATION, DREADNODE_WORKSPACE, DREADNODE_PROJECT apply when the flags aren’t set. See Environment variables for the full list.

Session setup

Flag	Effect
-r, --resume <id>	Resume a previous session by ID (prefix match supported)
--agent <name>	Start with the named agent selected
--model <provider/model>	Start with the named model selected
--system-prompt <text>	Append custom instructions to the generated system prompt
--prompt <text>	Pre-filled first message. Auto-sends in the TUI; runs in --print

Capabilities

Flag	Effect
--capabilities-dir <path> (repeatable)	Additional capabilities directory to scan
--capability <name> (repeatable)	Enable only the listed capabilities (exclusive — everything else is off)
--capability-flag <cap.flag=true|false> (repeatable)	Override a capability’s flag at launch

Autonomy

Flag	Effect
--auto	Launch in autonomous mode. Same semantics as /auto after launch
--max-steps <n>	Step budget for autonomous mode. Defaults to 30

Headless execution — --print

--print skips the TUI entirely: the prompt runs, response text streams to stdout, progress goes to stderr, and the process exits when the turn finishes. Designed for scripts, CI, and pipelines.

dn --print --prompt "list CVEs in requirements.txt" > report.md

Behavioral differences from the TUI:

• Approval prompts auto-approve (the opposite of /auto, which auto-denies). A headless run assumes you meant what you asked for.
• Any non-approval ask_user call raises an error and exits — the agent cannot pause for free-form input.
• Agent and capability names are validated against the runtime before the session starts. A typo exits immediately with a readable error rather than silently picking default.

Caution

Because approvals auto-approve, don’t run --print against a target you wouldn’t let the agent touch. Use --auto in the TUI if you want the safer auto-deny behavior.

Runtime connection

Flag	Effect
--runtime-server <url>	Connect to an existing dreadnode serve runtime instead of starting a local one

Without the flag, dn starts a local runtime subprocess and tears it down on exit. With it, the runtime is expected to be running already — useful for sharing a runtime across multiple TUI sessions or keeping capabilities loaded across restarts.