[Agent-Friendly] Make CLI usable by AI agents and automation

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[Agent-Friendly] Make CLI usable by AI agents and automation

Problem

The CLI requires interactive password input, uses spinners/animations in output, and doesn't provide machine-readable formats. This makes it difficult for:

• AI agents (like OpenClaw assistants)
• CI/CD pipelines
• Automation scripts
• Batch operations

Proposed Solutions

1. Non-interactive Authentication

# Environment variable
HOOT_PASSWORD=xxx hoot -p

# Password from stdin
echo $PASSWORD | hoot -p --password-stdin

# Password from file
hoot -p --password-file ~/.config/nostr-cli/password

2. JSON Output Mode

Add --json flag for machine-readable output:

hoot -l --json
hoot -p --json
hoot -dms --json

Example output:

{
  "posts": [
    {
      "id": "note1...",
      "content": "Hello world",
      "created_at": "2026-03-25T18:25:19Z",
      "relays": ["wss://relay.damus.io"]
    }
  ]
}

3. Quiet Mode

Add -q / --quiet to disable spinners/animations:

hoot -m "test" -q
hoot -p --quiet

4. Consistent Exit Codes

• 0 = success
• 1 = general error
• 2 = auth error (wrong password, no key)
• 3 = network error (relay connection failed)
• 4 = validation error (invalid input)

5. Machine-Readable Errors

JSON errors when --json is set:

{
  "error": "relay connection failed",
  "code": 3,
  "relay": "wss://relay.nostr.band"
}

6. Config via Flags

Allow overriding config file settings via flags:

hoot -m "test" --relays wss://damus.io,wss://nos.lol
hoot -p --timeout 30s

7. Batch Operations (optional)

# Multiple posts from file
hoot --batch posts.json

Priority

High - this would enable:

• AI assistants to interact with Nostr programmatically
• Better CI/CD integration
• Scripted automation
• Testing in headless environments

Related

• Subagents running in PTY can't easily pipe passwords
• Spinners/animations break terminal capture