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Clink Tool - CLI-to-CLI Bridge

Spawn AI subagents, connect external CLIs, orchestrate isolated contexts – all without leaving your session

The clink tool transforms your CLI into a multi-agent orchestrator. Launch isolated Codex instances from within Codex, delegate to Gemini's 1M context, or run specialized Claude agents—all while preserving conversation continuity. Instead of context-switching or token bloat, spawn fresh subagents that handle complex tasks in isolation and return only the results you need.

Caution

: Clink launches real CLI agents with relaxed permission flags (Gemini ships with --yolo, Codex with --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox, Claude with --permission-mode acceptEdits) so they can edit files and run tools autonomously via MCP. If that’s more access than you want, remove those flags—the CLI can still open/read files and report findings, it just won’t auto-apply edits. You can also tighten role prompts or system prompts with stop-words/guardrails, or disable clink entirely. Otherwise, keep the shipped presets confined to workspaces you fully trust.

Why Use Clink (CLI + Link)?

Codex-within-Codex: The Ultimate Context Management

The Problem: You're deep in a Codex session debugging authentication. Now you need a comprehensive security audit, but that'll consume 50K tokens of context you can't spare.

The Solution: Spawn a fresh Codex subagent in an isolated context:

clink with codex codereviewer to audit auth/ for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities

The subagent:

  • Launches in a pristine context with full token budget
  • Performs deep analysis using its own MCP tools and web search
  • Returns only the final security report (not intermediate steps)
  • Your main session stays laser-focused on debugging

Works with any supported CLI: Codex can spawn Codex / Claude Code / Gemini CLI subagents, or mix and match between different CLIs.

Cross-CLI Orchestration

Scenario 1: You're in Codex and need Gemini's 1M context window to analyze a massive legacy codebase.

Without clink: Open new terminal → run gemini → lose conversation context → manually copy/paste findings → context mismatch hell.

With clink: "clink with gemini to map dependencies across this 500-file monorepo" – Gemini processes, returns insights, conversation flows seamlessly.

Scenario 2: Use consensus to debate features with multiple models, then hand off to Gemini for implementation.

"Use consensus with pro and gpt5 to decide whether to add dark mode or offline support next"
[consensus runs, models deliberate, recommendation emerges]

Use continuation with clink - implement the recommended feature

Gemini receives the full conversation context from consensus including the consensus prompt + replies, understands the chosen feature, technical constraints discussed, and can start implementation immediately. No re-explaining, no context loss - true conversation continuity across tools and models.

Key Features

  • Stay in one CLI: No switching between terminal sessions or losing context
  • Full conversation continuity: Gemini's responses participate in the same conversation thread
  • Role-based prompts: Pre-configured roles for planning, code review, or general questions
  • Full CLI capabilities: Gemini can use its own web search, file tools, and latest features
  • Token efficiency: File references (not full content) to conserve tokens
  • Cross-tool collaboration: Combine with other PAL tools like planner → clink → codereview
  • Free tier available: Gemini offers 1,000 requests/day free with a personal Google account - great for cost savings across tools

Available Roles

Default Role - General questions, summaries, quick answers

Use clink to ask gemini about the latest React 19 features

Planner Role - Strategic planning with multi-phase approach

clink with gemini with planner role to map out our microservices migration strategy

Code Reviewer Role - Focused code analysis with severity levels

Use clink codereviewer role to review auth.py for security issues

You can make your own custom roles in conf/cli_clients/ or tweak any of the shipped presets.

Tool Parameters

  • prompt: Your question or task for the external CLI (required)
  • cli_name: Which CLI to use - gemini (default), claude, codex, or add your own in conf/cli_clients/
  • role: Preset role - default, planner, codereviewer (default: default)
  • files: Optional file paths for context (references only, CLI opens files itself)
  • images: Optional image paths for visual context
  • continuation_id: Continue previous clink conversations

Usage Examples

Architecture Planning:

Use clink with gemini planner to design a 3-phase rollout plan for our feature flags system

Code Review with Context:

clink to gemini codereviewer: Review payment_service.py for race conditions and concurrency issues

Codex Code Review:

"clink with codex cli and perform a full code review using the codereview role"

Quick Research Question:

"Ask gemini via clink: What are the breaking changes in TypeScript 5.5?"

Multi-Tool Workflow:

"Use planner to outline the refactor, then clink gemini planner for validation,
then codereview to verify the implementation"

Leveraging Gemini's Web Search:

"Clink gemini to research current best practices for Kubernetes autoscaling in 2025"

How Clink Works

  1. Your request - You ask your current CLI to use clink with a specific CLI and role
  2. Background execution - PAL spawns the configured CLI (e.g., gemini --output-format json)
  3. Context forwarding - Your prompt, files (as references), and conversation history are sent as part of the prompt
  4. CLI processing - Gemini (or other CLI) uses its own tools: web search, file access, thinking modes
  5. Seamless return - Results flow back into your conversation with full context preserved
  6. Continuation support - Future tools and models can reference Gemini's findings via continuation support within PAL.

Best Practices

  • Pre-authenticate CLIs: Install and configure Gemini CLI first (npm install -g @google/gemini-cli)
  • Choose appropriate roles: Use planner for strategy, codereviewer for code, default for general questions
  • Leverage CLI strengths: Gemini's 1M context for large codebases, web search for current docs
  • Combine with PAL tools: Chain clink with planner, codereview, debug for powerful workflows
  • File efficiency: Pass file paths, let the CLI decide what to read (saves tokens)

Configuration

Clink configurations live in conf/cli_clients/. We ship presets for the supported CLIs:

  • gemini.json – runs gemini --telemetry false --yolo -o json
  • claude.json – runs claude --print --output-format json --permission-mode acceptEdits --model sonnet
  • codex.json – runs codex exec --json --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox

Caution

: These flags intentionally bypass each CLI's safety prompts so they can edit files or launch tools autonomously via MCP. Only enable them in trusted sandboxes and tailor role prompts or CLI configs if you need more guardrails.

Each preset points to role-specific prompts in systemprompts/clink/. Duplicate those files to add more roles or adjust CLI flags.

Why --yolo for Gemini? The Gemini CLI currently requires automatic approvals to execute its own tools (for example run_shell_command). Without the flag it errors with Tool "run_shell_command" not found in registry. See issue #5382 for more details.

Adding new CLIs: Drop a JSON config into conf/cli_clients/, create role prompts in systemprompts/clink/, and register a parser/agent if the CLI outputs a new format.

When to Use Clink vs Other Tools

  • Use clink for: Leveraging external CLI capabilities (Gemini's web search, 1M context), specialized CLI features, cross-CLI collaboration
  • Use chat for: Direct model-to-model conversations within PAL
  • Use planner for: PAL's native planning workflows with step validation
  • Use codereview for: PAL's structured code review with severity levels

Setup Requirements

Ensure the relevant CLI is installed and configured:

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