Commands Reference

Complete reference for all Jan CLI commands and subcommands

Top-Level Commands

serve

Load a local model and expose it at localhost:6767/v1. Auto-detects LlamaCPP or MLX.

jan serve [MODEL_ID] [OPTIONS]

See the serve command documentation for detailed usage.

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launch

Start a local model, then launch an AI agent with it pre-wired (environment variables set automatically).

jan launch [PROGRAM] [OPTIONS] [-- PROGRAM_ARGS...]

See the launch command documentation for detailed usage.

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threads

List and inspect conversation threads saved by the Jan app.

jan threads <SUBCOMMAND>

Subcommands

threads list

Print all threads as JSON.

jan threads list

Output: JSON array of thread objects with metadata.

threads get <ID>

Print a single thread’s metadata as JSON.

jan threads get <THREAD_ID>

id · string · required

Thread ID to retrieve

Output: JSON object with thread metadata.

threads delete <ID>

Permanently delete a thread and all its messages.

jan threads delete <THREAD_ID>

id · string · required

Thread ID to delete

Output: Confirmation JSON with deleted thread ID.

threads messages <ID>

Print all messages in a thread as JSON.

jan threads messages <THREAD_ID>

thread_id · string · required

Thread ID to get messages from

Output: JSON array of message objects.

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models

List and load models installed in the Jan data folder.

jan models <SUBCOMMAND>

Subcommands

models list

Print all installed models as JSON (from the Jan data folder).

jan models list [--engine <ENGINE>]

engine · string · default: "all"

Filter by engine: llamacpp, mlx, or all

Example Output:

[
  {
    "id": "qwen3.5-35b-a3b",
    "engine": "llamacpp",
    "name": "Qwen 3.5 35B",
    "model_path": "/Users/you/Library/Application Support/Jan/models/qwen3.5-35b-a3b/model.gguf",
    "size_bytes": 21474836480,
    "embedding": false,
    "capabilities": ["text"],
    "mmproj_path": null
  }
]

models load

Load a model and serve it — alias for the top-level serve command.

jan models load [MODEL_ID] [OPTIONS]

Accepts the same options as jan serve. See serve documentation.

models load-mlx

Load an MLX model directly (macOS / Apple Silicon only).

jan models load-mlx --model-id <MODEL_ID> [OPTIONS]

model-id · string · required

Model ID as shown by jan models list --engine mlx

model-path · string

Path to the MLX model directory (auto-resolved from model.yml when omitted)

bin · string

Path to the mlx-server binary (auto-discovered from Jan.app when omitted)

port · number · default: "6767"

Port the model server listens on (0 = pick a random free port)

ctx-size · number · default: "0"

Context window size in tokens (0 = model default)

embedding · boolean · default: "false"

Treat the model as an embedding model

timeout · number · default: "120"

Seconds to wait for the model server to become ready

api-key · string · default: ""

API key required by clients (sets MLX_API_KEY on the server)

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app

Show app configuration and data folder location.

jan app <SUBCOMMAND>

Subcommands

app data-folder

Print the Jan data folder path (where models, threads, and config are stored).

jan app data-folder

Example Output:

{
  "data_folder": "/Users/you/Library/Application Support/Jan"
}

app config

Print the Jan configuration as JSON.

jan app config

Output: JSON object with Jan configuration settings.

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Global Options

--help · flag

Display help information for any command

jan --help
jan serve --help
jan launch --help

--version · flag

Display the Jan CLI version

jan --version

-v, --verbose · flag

Print full server logs (llama.cpp / mlx output) instead of the loading spinner

Available on: serve, launch

jan serve qwen3.5-35b --verbose
jan launch claude --model qwen3.5-35b -v

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Examples

Serve a model

jan serve qwen3.5-35b-a3b

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Exit Codes

• 0: Success
• 1: Error (with error message printed to stderr)

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See Also

Serve Command

Detailed guide for serving models

Launch Command

Wire AI agents to local models