Run Grok Build CLI headless

Use grok -p for one-shot prompts in scripts, CI, and bots. Skip the fullscreen TUI, pick an output format, and resume named sessions from ~/.grok/sessions.

One prompt

grok -p "Your prompt here"

Useful flags:

Flag	What it does
-p, --single <PROMPT>	Send one prompt
-m, --model <MODEL>	Choose a model
-s, --session-id <ID>	Create or resume a named headless session
-r, --resume <ID>	Resume an existing session
-c, --continue	Continue the most recent session in this directory
--cwd <PATH>	Set the working directory
--output-format <FMT>	plain, json, or streaming-json
--always-approve	Auto-approve tool executions
--no-alt-screen	Stay inline (no alternate screen)
--no-auto-update	Skip background CLI update checks

Machine-readable output

grok -p "List TODO comments" --output-format json
grok -p "Explain the architecture" --output-format streaming-json

json prints one object at the end. streaming-json emits newline-delimited events as work lands.

CI tip

Pass --no-auto-update in scripts, or set auto_update = false under [cli] in ~/.grok/config.toml. Authenticate with grok login or XAI_API_KEY before headless runs.

For IDE-style wiring, grok agent stdio speaks ACP over JSON-RPC on stdin/stdout instead of a single -p prompt.

Pitfalls

• Headless sessions live under ~/.grok/sessions. Wipe or rotate ids if a script keeps appending to the wrong thread.
• --always-approve lets tools run without a human click. Keep it off on shared machines unless the job is sandboxed.
• Without --no-auto-update, background update checks can stall CI. Set the flag or the config key.