CLI Reference¶
ResearchPad provides a command-line interface for project initialization, server management, and version information.
researchpad init¶
Initialize ResearchPad in the current directory.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--force |
Overwrite existing .cursor/commands/ files if they already exist |
What it creates:
.cursor/commands/-- Cursor IDE command files.researchpad/experiments/research/-- Research artifact directory.researchpad/experiments/debug/-- Debug report directory.researchpad/experiments/insights.md-- Insights file (blank template)
Safe to re-run
Running init without --force will skip existing files and only create missing directories. It will not delete or overwrite anything.
researchpad runserver¶
Start the ResearchPad UI server.
| Argument | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
host:port |
localhost:8888 |
Bind address for the server |
Examples:
# Default: localhost:8888
researchpad runserver
# Custom port
researchpad runserver localhost:3000
# All interfaces
researchpad runserver 0.0.0.0:8888
Environment variables:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
RESEARCHPAD_STORAGE_ROOT |
Override the default .researchpad/ storage directory |
The server requires Node.js >= 18 to be installed and available on your PATH. It will exit with an error message if Node.js is not found.
Stopping the server:
Press Ctrl+C to gracefully shut down the server.
researchpad version¶
Print the installed version of ResearchPad.
Output: