Usage

Helm provides a small set of CLI commands for initializing projects, checking status, resuming sessions, and checkpointing state.

helm init

Initialize a new project or reinitialize an existing one.

helm init
helm init --name my-api --type brownfield --lang pt-BR
helm init --force

Flag	Description	Default
`--name`	Project name	Current directory name
`--type`	Project type: `greenfield` or `brownfield`	Auto-detected
`--lang`	Language: `en-US` or `pt-BR`	`en-US`
`--force`	Reinitialize existing project	`false`

Creates .helm/session.yaml (runtime state) and helm.yaml (project config).

helm status

Display pipeline progress dashboard.

helm status
helm status --short
helm status --json

Flag	Description
`--short`	One-line summary
`--json`	Machine-readable JSON output

helm resume

Show context and next steps for resuming in a new Claude Code session.

helm resume
helm resume --json

Displays the current agent, last completed agent with score, and what to do next. Use this after opening a new Claude Code window to pick up where you left off.

helm save

Checkpoint session state for safe handoff between conversations.

helm save
helm save --message "before refactor"
helm save --force

Flag	Description
`--message`	Checkpoint description
`--force`	Skip recent checkpoint warning

Before checkpointing, helm save validates:

Required fields exist in session.yaml
Handoff files exist for completed agents
Artifact directories exist for completed agents

Keeps the last 5 checkpoints with FIFO rotation.

helm version

Print the installed Helm version.

helm version

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--no-color`	Disable colored output

Color is automatically disabled when piping output or when the NO_COLOR environment variable is set.

Within Claude Code

Inside Claude Code, use the /helm slash command to activate the orchestrator. The CLI complements Claude Code — use it standalone to check status and checkpoint state.

/helm          # activate orchestrator
/helm status   # show dashboard
/helm resume   # resume from last agent
/helm exit     # deactivate session lock