Use AI in the terminal

The dPanel AI assistant also works from a terminal through dnocs, the dPanel command-line tool. dnocs ai chat sends a message and prints the answer; dnocs ai approve approves or rejects a change it proposed. It is the same assistant as Ask dPanel in the web app, with the same rules: questions run at once, changes wait for your approval.

Use it when you prefer the keyboard, or when you want a script or your own AI coding agent to work with dPanel. See Use your own AI agent.

Install dnocs

dnocs is a single file for macOS and Linux, on Intel/AMD (amd64) and Apple Silicon or ARM (arm64) machines. It is published at github.com/dPanel-ID/artifacts, one folder per version, and the file cli/LATEST names the newest version.

1. 1

   Open a terminal.

2. 2

   Download the newest version for your machine:

   bash

   VERSION=$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dPanel-ID/artifacts/main/cli/LATEST)
   OS=$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
   ARCH=$(uname -m | sed 's/x86_64/amd64/;s/aarch64/arm64/')
   curl -fsSLo dnocs "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dPanel-ID/artifacts/main/cli/$VERSION/dpanelprod-cli-$OS-$ARCH"
   

3. 3

   Make it runnable and put it on your path:

   bash

   chmod +x dnocs
   sudo mv dnocs /usr/local/bin/dnocs
   

4. 4

   Check that it works: dnocs --help lists the commands.

Each version folder also holds a SHA256SUMS file, if you want to check the download's checksum.

Sign in and pick a workspace

1. 1

   Sign in with your dPanel username. dnocs asks for your password without showing it:

   bash

   dnocs auth login -u your-username
   

2. 2

   Check who you are: dnocs auth info.

3. 3

   List your workspaces and choose one. Everything after this happens in that workspace:

   bash

   dnocs workspace list
   dnocs workspace set --id 5209311491061018854
   

   dnocs workspace reset goes back to your personal workspace.

Ask a question

dnocs ai chat "Which load balancers do I have, and which engine does each use?"

dnocs prints Asking the dPanel assistant…, then the answer, the tools it used after Checked:, and the conversation ID:

You have 2 load balancers, both using the Caddy engine:
| ID | Name | Domain           | Server     | Status |
| 31 | shop | shop.example.com | web-1 (145) | ready  |
| 46 | blog | blog.example.com | web-1 (145) | ready  |
Checked: loadbalancer_list
Conversation: aic_dbltova0ehgehnm7fvhg

To ask a follow-up in the same conversation, pass that ID:

dnocs ai chat --conversation aic_dbltova0ehgehnm7fvhg "and which of them use Cloudflare proxying?"

Without --conversation, every dnocs ai chat starts a new conversation.

Approve or reject a change

When you ask for a change, the answer ends with the card's details and the two commands you can run:

Waiting for your approval: aipa_dbltp7i0ehgehnm7g01g
  Add a firewall rule on server 145: allow port 8080/tcp from any. It is stored only; the server changes when the firewall is applied.
  approve: dnocs ai approve aipa_dbltp7i0ehgehnm7g01g
  reject:  dnocs ai approve --reject aipa_dbltp7i0ehgehnm7g01g
Conversation: aic_dbltp6q0ehgehnm7fvug

• Approve: dnocs ai approve aipa_…. The change runs once, exactly as proposed, with your session. The assistant then reports the outcome, and may propose the next step.
• Reject: dnocs ai approve --reject aipa_…. It prints rejected and nothing changes.

Secrets in the terminal

• Secrets you type: when a change needs a value only you know, dnocs ai approve asks for each one without showing what you type, for example WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD (runtime): . In a script, pipe one value per line: printf '%s\n' "$DB_PASSWORD" | dnocs ai approve aipa_….
• Generated secrets: a generated password is printed once, under Generated secrets, shown only this once. Save them now:. dPanel keeps no copy.

Follow the jobs

Approving starts a job and returns at once. Follow it with:

dnocs execution list --server-id 145 --limit 3

Run it again until the job says succeeded or failed. If it failed, ask the assistant why: dnocs ai chat "Why did the last job on server 145 fail?".

Other dnocs commands

dnocs does much more than chat. dnocs --help lists every command, and dnocs <command> --help explains one. A few you will meet in these docs:

Frequently asked questions

Does dnocs work on Windows?

There is no Windows build. Use it in WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) with the Linux file.

I sign in to dPanel with Google. Can I use dnocs?

dnocs auth login signs in with a dPanel username or email and a password; it has no Google sign-in.

Are terminal and web conversations shared?

They are the same kind of conversation, stored by dPanel for your account and workspace. The web panel shows the last conversation you had in that browser, and a terminal conversation continues with --conversation. You can approve a card from the web panel in the terminal with its action ID, as the same user in the same workspace.