CLI troubleshooting
stable
| Symptom | Check | Recovery |
|---|---|---|
sift: command not found |
npm config get prefix and node --version |
Put the npm bin directory on PATH; reinstall with Node 20+. |
| Not signed in | sift auth status --json |
Run sift login; if the credential store is stale, log out and authenticate again. |
| Wrong brain/workspace | sift scope current --json |
Select the intended scope before reading or writing. |
| Permission denied | Inspect required capability in the command reference | Ask a workspace owner for the narrow capability; do not bypass the refusal. |
| Hosted API unavailable | sift doctor --json |
Check network and environment; retry reads safely. |
| Local MCP has no tools | Run CLI directly, then restart client tool discovery | Confirm the client can find sift and inherits the intended credential-store session. |
Never print credential-store contents while debugging.