Shell-Cell CLI Reference

Now that you’ve installed and configured Shell-Cell, you’re ready to launch your very first session!

To get started, create a blueprint scell.yml file in your project directory. This file defines the environment your shell will live in. (For a deep dive into the blueprint specification, check out the Blueprint Guide).

Example scell.yml:

main:
  from: debian:bookworm
  workspace: workdir
  shell: /bin/bash
  hang: while true; do sleep 3600; done

Once your file is ready, simply open your terminal in that directory and run:

scell

That’s it, simple as that! Shell-Cell will automatically look for a file named scell.yml in your current location and start the Shell-Cell session on the spot.

It would try to locate an entry point target - main.

If you want to specify some other entry point target, rather than main, you could pass a -t, --target CLI option.

scell -t <other-entrypoint-target>

If your configuration file is located elsewhere and you don’t want to change directories, you can point Shell-Cell directly to it.

scell ./path/to/the/blueprint/directory

Commands

ls — List Shell-Cell Containers

scell ls

Displays an interactive table of all existing Shell-Cell containers.

stop — Stop All Running Shell-Cell Containers

scell stop

Stops all running Shell-Cell containers (only Shell-Cell related containers, not any others).

Press Ctrl-C or Ctrl-D to abort early.

cleanup — Remove Orphan Containers and Images

scell cleanup

Cleans up orphan Shell-Cell containers and corresponding images. A container is considered an orphan when it is no longer associated with any existing scell.yml blueprint file (e.g., the blueprint was deleted or moved, or the blueprint contents changed so the container hash no longer matches).

❓ Need more help ?

If you want to explore the full list of commands, flags, and capabilities, our built-in help menu is always there for you:

scell --help