Live Tesla vehicle data and commands from the terminal via the Tessie API
Created by @keithah (Keith Herrington).
Quick Start
1. Install
See Install above.
2. Set Up Credentials
Get your access token from your API provider's developer portal, then store it:
tessie-pp-cli auth set-token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE
Or set it via environment variable:
export TESSIE_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"
3. Verify Setup
tessie-pp-cli doctor
This checks your configuration and credentials.
4. Try Your First Command
tessie-pp-cli vehicles
Usage
Run tessie-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.
Paths & environment variables
This CLI separates local files into four path kinds:
| Kind | Contents |
|---|
config | User-editable settings such as config.toml and saved profiles |
data | Durable local data: credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, browser-session proof files, and other auth sidecars |
state | Runtime state such as persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log |
cache | Regenerable HTTP/cache files |
Each kind resolves independently. The ladder is:
- Per-kind env var:
TESSIE_CONFIG_DIR, TESSIE_DATA_DIR, TESSIE_STATE_DIR, or TESSIE_CACHE_DIR
--home <dir> for this invocationTESSIE_HOME for a flat relocated root- XDG env vars:
XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME
- Platform defaults matching existing installs
For containers and agent sandboxes, prefer a single relocated root:
export TESSIE_HOME=/srv/tessie
tessie-pp-cli doctor
Under TESSIE_HOME=/srv/tessie, the four dirs resolve to /srv/tessie/config, /srv/tessie/data, /srv/tessie/state, and /srv/tessie/cache.
MCP servers do not receive CLI flags from the host. Put relocation in the host env block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"tessie": {
"command": "tessie-pp-mcp",
"env": {
"TESSIE_HOME": "/srv/tessie"
}
}
}
}
Precedence matters in fleets: an ambient per-kind variable such as TESSIE_DATA_DIR overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use TESSIE_HOME or the per-kind variables for durable fleet relocation; treat --home as the weaker per-invocation lever.
Relocation is one-way. Unsetting TESSIE_HOME does not move files back to platform defaults, and doctor cannot find credentials left under a former root. Move the files manually before unsetting relocation variables.
Existing installs keep working because the platform-default rung matches the legacy layout. On the first auth write, stored secrets leave config.toml and are consolidated into credentials.toml under the data directory. Run tessie-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to check path and credential-location warnings in automation.
Commands
commands
Send vehicle commands
tessie-pp-cli commands <vin> <command> - Send a vehicle command (honk, flash_lights, start_climate, etc.)
vehicle
Query and command a single vehicle by VIN
tessie-pp-cli vehicle battery - Get the battery state of a vehicletessie-pp-cli vehicle location - Get the location of a vehicletessie-pp-cli vehicle state - Get the latest state of a vehicletessie-pp-cli vehicle wake - Wake the vehicle from sleep
vehicles
List and select Tesla vehicles
tessie-pp-cli vehicles - List all vehicles with their latest state
Self-learning loop
This CLI caches per-question discovery so repeat queries skip the walk and structurally similar queries get answered via entity substitution. The loop also self-captures: every invocation is journaled locally, and failed-flag corrections plus fresh teaches surface as candidates on the next recall for confirm/reject judgment. Agents call recall before discovery and fire teach & after answering. See the ## Automatic learning section in SKILL.md for the full protocol.
tessie-pp-cli recall <query> - Look up cached resources for a query before running discoverytessie-pp-cli teach - Record a query -> resource mapping (silent on success, safe to background with &)tessie-pp-cli learnings list - Inspect taught rowstessie-pp-cli learnings forget <query> - Undo a teachtessie-pp-cli learnings candidates - List auto-captured candidates awaiting confirm/rejecttessie-pp-cli learnings stats - Local loop metrics: recall hit rate, teach-to-reuse, playbook resolution, candidate countstessie-pp-cli teach-pattern - Install a query/resource template up fronttessie-pp-cli teach-lookup - Add an entity mapping (e.g. country code, team alias) for pattern substitution
Pass --no-learn or set TESSIE_NO_LEARN=true to disable the loop for deterministic flows.
The local store's schema version stamp is one-way: once this version of tessie-pp-cli opens the database, older binaries refuse it with a version error — upgrade the binary rather than downgrading.
Output Formats
# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
tessie-pp-cli vehicles
# JSON for scripting and agents
tessie-pp-cli vehicles --json
# Filter to specific fields by name
tessie-pp-cli vehicles --json --select <field>[,<field>...]
# Dry run — show the request without sending
tessie-pp-cli vehicles --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
tessie-pp-cli vehicles --agent
Agent Usage
This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:
- Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
- Pipeable -
--json output to stdout, errors to stderr
- Filterable -
--select <field>[,<field>...] returns only fields you need
- Previewable -
--dry-run shows the request without sending
- Explicit retries - add
--idempotent to create retries when a no-op success is acceptable
- Explicit confirmation -
--agent does not imply --yes; pass --yes separately only after the target, arguments, and side effects are clear
- Piped input - write commands can accept structured input when their help lists
--stdin
- Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless
--human-friendly is set
Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
tessie-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Run tessie-pp-cli doctor to see the resolved config, data, state, and cache directories. The platform-default config path is ~/.config/tessie-pp-cli/config.toml; --home, TESSIE_HOME, and per-kind env vars can relocate it.
Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.
Environment variables:
| Name | Kind | Required | Description |
|---|
TESSIE_API_TOKEN | per_call | Yes | Set to your API credential. |
agentcookie (optional)
If you use agentcookie to sync secrets across machines, this CLI auto-adopts agentcookie-managed credentials with no extra setup. When the daemon writes to this CLI's config, tessie-pp-cli doctor reports agentcookie: detected and auth-status labels the source as agentcookie. Skip this section if you don't use agentcookie - the CLI works the same as any other.
Troubleshooting
Authentication errors (exit code 4)
- Run
tessie-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
- Verify the environment variable is set:
echo $TESSIE_API_TOKEN
Not found errors (exit code 3)
- Check the resource ID is correct
- Run the
list command to see available items
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