KeiSeiKit-1.0/docs/encyclopedia/multi-cli-agents.md

Multi-CLI agent invocation

Cross-LLM agent execution. Same agent definition, different backend.

KeiSeiKit agents are markdown files. Any LLM CLI that takes a prompt can host them — kei run-via is the launcher that bridges them.

Backends

Registered in _primitives/cli-backends.toml (SSoT). Installed locally via your own subscription / package manager:

Backend	CLI binary	Non-interactive flag	Native --agent	Notes
claude	claude	-p	yes	Claude Code (Anthropic)
grok	grok	--print	yes	xAI Grok Build TUI
agy	agy	--print	no	Google Antigravity (alias: antigravity)
copilot	copilot	--prompt	no	GitHub Copilot CLI (@github/copilot)
kimi	kimi	stdin	no	Moonshot Kimi (primarily TUI/ACP)
codex	codex	-p	no	OpenAI Codex (register-only)

Run kei run-via list to see which are installed on the current machine and to list available agent names.

Usage

# Invoke the 'critic' agent through Grok with a task:
kei run-via grok critic "review src/auth.rs for variant analysis"

# Same agent, different backend:
kei run-via agy critic "review src/auth.rs"
kei run-via copilot critic "review src/auth.rs"
kei run-via claude critic "review src/auth.rs"

# Point at an arbitrary agent .md (not in ~/.claude/agents/):
kei run-via grok --file=/tmp/my-agent.md "do the thing"

# Backend's native --agent flag (grok/claude only):
KEI_NATIVE_AGENT=1 kei run-via grok critic "review src/auth.rs"

How it works

1. Reads ~/.claude/agents/<agent-name>.md (assembler-generated prompt).
2. Strips YAML frontmatter.
3. Composes with task as: <agent prompt>\n\n---\n\nTASK FOR THIS RUN:\n<task>.
4. Execs the backend's non-interactive CLI with the composed prompt.

No agent file is modified. No new tokens are issued. Subscription authentication is whatever each CLI uses (its own login / config dir).

When to use each

This is a tool, not a recommendation. Each backend has different strengths; the substrate is agnostic about which you pick. Pick by:

• Familiarity — the CLI you already use day-to-day.
• Subscription cost — burn the one with cheaper marginal cost first.
• Specific feature — e.g. grok --agent for native sub-agent switching mid-conversation; agy --sandbox for terminal restriction.
• Independent second opinion — same agent, different model, see if conclusions diverge.

Adding a new backend

1. Add a [backend.<name>] table to _primitives/cli-backends.toml.
2. Add a case arm in scripts/kei-agent-cli.sh backend_bin() and backend_invoke() for the new CLI's print-flag.
3. Add a row to the table above.

What it is NOT

• Not a router — picks no backend for you; you ask, it dispatches.
• Not a federation — each backend runs independently with its own context; there is no cross-backend state.
• Not a wrapper around the backend's tool surface — what the CLI can do (Bash, file edits, MCP, etc.) is determined by that CLI, not KeiSeiKit. The substrate only ships the prompt.

Related

• _primitives/_rust/kei-llm-router/ — Beta-posterior router for programmatic model selection inside Rust code (a different layer).
• _primitives/_rust/kei-mcp/ — MCP server that exposes KeiSeiKit primitives to ANY MCP-compatible client (Cursor / Continue / Zed / Aider / Cline / Windsurf / OpenClaw).