the do(ops) cli

A browsable catalog of automation scripts that operators can select, parameterize, and execute directly from the terminal.

Try the Live Demo · Documentation · Report Bug · Request Feature

Also available in the browser: dops open

Or let AI agents run your runbooks: dops mcp serve

Table of Contents

1. About
2. Features
3. Installation
4. Quick Start
5. Themes
6. Web UI
7. MCP Integration
8. Keyboard Shortcuts
9. Shell Completion
10. Development
11. Getting Help
12. License

About

dops is built for DevOps and platform engineering teams who need a consistent, safe way to run operational scripts. Instead of scattered shell scripts with tribal knowledge, dops organizes them into browsable catalogs with built-in parameter management, risk controls, and encrypted credential storage.

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Features

• Interactive TUI — sidebar catalog tree, metadata panel, live output pane, and wizard-driven parameter input
• Web UI — browser-based interface via dops open with real-time log streaming
• Catalog system — organize runbooks locally or install shared catalogs from git repositories
• Runbook aliases — short names for frequently used runbooks (dops run deploy instead of full IDs)
• Risk controls — confirmation gates for high/critical risk runbooks, per-catalog risk policies
• Encrypted vault — saved parameters encrypted with age (X25519 + ChaCha20-Poly1305)
• Smart parameter input — saved values auto-applied, only prompts for what's needed
• Live execution — real-time stdout/stderr streaming with scroll, search, and text selection
• Execution history — persistent audit trail across TUI, CLI, Web, and MCP with dops history and web UI timeline
• MCP server — expose runbooks as tools and skills to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol
• MCP skills — injectable domain knowledge for AI agents via type: skill runbooks
• 20 themes — github, dracula, gruvbox, nord, synthwave, unicorn, and more
• CLI mode — run any runbook non-interactively with dops run <id> --param key=value

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Screenshots (click to expand)

TUI — Startup

TUI — Sidebar search

TUI — Wizard parameter input

TUI — Multi-select

TUI — Risk confirmation

TUI — Live execution output

TUI — Output search

TUI — Help overlay

Web UI — Catalog & parameter form

Web UI — Execution log

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Installation

Quick install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/masonhuemmer/dops/main/install.sh | sh

Installs the latest binary to /usr/local/bin. Set DOPS_INSTALL_DIR to change the location.

Windows

winget install RunDops.dops

Or via Scoop:

scoop bucket add masonhuemmer https://github.com/masonhuemmer/scoop-bucket.git
scoop install dops

Or download the latest .zip from the releases page and add dops.exe to your PATH.

Homebrew

brew tap masonhuemmer/tap
brew install dops

Go

go install github.com/masonhuemmer/dops@latest

Docker (MCP server)

The image is private. Run docker login ghcr.io with a GitHub token that has read:packages and access to this package before pulling.

docker run -i -v ~/.dops:/data/dops ghcr.io/masonhuemmer/dops:latest

From source

git clone https://github.com/masonhuemmer/dops.git
cd dops
make build
./bin/dops

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Quick Start

1. Initialize dops:

dops init

This creates ~/.dops/ with a default config and a sample hello-world runbook.

2. Launch the TUI:

dops

3. Navigate with arrow keys, run with Enter, fill in parameters, and confirm.

4. Or launch the web UI:

dops open

5. Install a shared catalog:

dops catalog install https://github.com/your-org/runbooks.git

Catalog structure

Catalogs are directories of runbooks. Each runbook is a folder with a runbook.yaml and a script.sh:

my-catalog/
├── check-health/
│   ├── runbook.yaml
│   └── script.sh
└── deploy-service/
    ├── runbook.yaml
    └── script.sh

Runbook example

name: check-health
version: 1.0.0
description: Runs health checks against a service endpoint
risk_level: medium
script: script.sh
parameters:
  - name: endpoint
    type: string
    required: true
    description: The endpoint to check
    scope: global

See the runbook guide for the full YAML schema, parameter types, and shell scripting conventions.

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Themes

dops ships with 20 built-in themes. Default: github.

dops config set theme=dracula

github	dracula	gruvbox	nord
monokai	synthwave	nightowl	one-dark
kanagawa	everforest	solarized	espresso
unicorn	ayu	zenburn	catppuccin-mocha
catppuccin-latte	rosepine-dawn	doop	tokyomidnight

Set theme=rainbow for a random theme on every launch.

Custom themes go in ~/.dops/themes/<name>.json. See the configuration reference for the theme schema.

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Web UI

Launch a browser-based interface with dops open:

dops open              # opens http://localhost:3000
dops open --port 8080  # custom port
dops open --no-browser # start server without opening browser

The web UI provides:

• Searchable catalog sidebar with risk indicators
• Parameter forms with saved values pre-filled
• Risk confirmation dialogs for high/critical operations
• Real-time execution log streaming with ANSI color support
• Full theme support — mirrors your configured dops theme

The SPA is embedded in the Go binary — no Node.js required at runtime. See the Web UI guide for details.

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MCP Integration

dops exposes runbooks to AI agents via the Model Context Protocol. Each runbook becomes an MCP tool with a JSON Schema.

Claude Code

Add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dops": {
      "command": "dops",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

Docker

Authenticate as described in Docker installation before running the private image.

# stdio transport
docker run -i -v ~/.dops:/data/dops ghcr.io/masonhuemmer/dops:latest

# HTTP transport
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v ~/.dops:/data/dops ghcr.io/masonhuemmer/dops:latest --transport http --port 8080

See the MCP guide for details on risk controls, resources, and streaming.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
↑↓	Navigate / scroll
Enter	Run runbook
←→	Collapse/expand catalog
/	Search
Tab	Switch pane focus
?	Help overlay
ctrl+x	Stop execution
ctrl+shift+p	Command palette
q	Quit

See the full keyboard reference for output pane controls, search navigation, and wizard shortcuts.

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Shell Completion

# Bash
dops completion bash > /etc/bash_completion.d/dops

# Zsh
dops completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_dops"

# Fish
dops completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/dops.fish

# PowerShell
dops completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

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Development

make build        # Build binary
make test         # Run tests
make vet          # Go vet
make lint         # golangci-lint
make web          # Build web UI (requires Node.js)
make screenshots  # Regenerate README hero screenshots and demo GIF (requires VHS)
make web-demo     # Record web UI demo GIF (requires Playwright + ffmpeg)
make docker       # Build Docker image
make ci           # Run CI checks (vet + test + build)

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Getting Help

• Documentation — guides, reference, and configuration
• GitHub Issues — bug reports and feature requests
• CLI Reference — all commands and flags

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Support

If you find dops useful, consider buying me a coffee!

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

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