Interactive, Print, and Automation Modes

Three modes, one CLI

Every serious AI CLI ships three execution modes, and they map onto fundamentally different jobs. Recognize which mode you want before typing a flag — most "the CLI doesn't work for me" stories are mode confusion.

Interactive (default). A live REPL. You type, it streams a response, you redirect mid-thought, you press Esc to interrupt. This is where exploration, debugging, and mid-task pivots happen. Conversation state is in memory; close the terminal and it's gone unless you resume by id.

Print / exec / non-interactive. Single-shot, exits when done, writes to stdout. The same model running, but no UI, no streaming, no follow-up. This is the mode you script around: claude -p, codex exec, gemini -p. It pipes, it composes with other tools, it cron-jobs. If you find yourself copy-pasting a prompt twice, switch to print mode.

Automation / cloud. Long-running, no human in the loop. Background agents, GitHub Actions runs, scheduled jobs. Same engine, but with pre-approved tools (--allowedTools) so there's nothing to click on. Automation is print mode plus a permission story plus a logging story.

Code

All three modes side by side (Claude Code)·bash

# Interactive — REPL session, conversation state in memory
claude
claude "explain the auth flow then suggest two refactors"

# Print — one shot, stdout out, exit
claude -p "summarize today's git log" > today.md
git diff HEAD~1 | claude -p "review for bugs"

# Resume — pick up an interactive session by id
claude -c                    # most recent
claude -r "abc123def456"     # specific id

# Automation — pre-approved tools, no prompts
claude -p "fix lint errors" \
  --allowedTools "Read,Edit,Bash(npx eslint *)" \
  --output-format json

Three CLIs, same mode shape·bash

# Print mode is the universal automation primitive
claude -p     "review the staged diff" < /dev/stdin
codex exec    "review the staged diff" --output-last-message
gemini -p     "review the staged diff"

# All three: read stdin or args, write stdout, exit cleanly

Exercise

Pick any one of the three CLIs you have installed (or will install). Pipe git diff HEAD~5 into print mode with the prompt "summarize what changed and flag anything that looks risky." Capture the output to a file. Note in your terminal-quest journal: how was that different from running the same prompt interactively?

Interactive, Print, and Automation Modes

Three modes, one CLI

Code

External links

Exercise

Progress

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