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Run pool exec to send a single prompt and exit when the task is complete. Use this for scripts, CI pipelines, and one-off tasks where you don’t need a back-and-forth. For interactive work, use Interactive mode instead.
If you previously used non-interactive flags on pool, such as pool -p, use pool exec instead.

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Basic usage

Pass a prompt inline: 
pool exec -p "What does this codebase do?"
Read the prompt from a file: 
pool exec -f prompt.txt
Pipe the prompt from standard input: 
pool exec < prompt.txt
Use - to read from standard input when combining with other flags: 
echo "Summarize this file" | pool exec -p -

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Set MCP input variables

For MCP server input variables, start pool exec with matching shell environment variables: 
KEY=VALUE pool exec -p "test"

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Run in a specific directory

By default, pool exec uses your current directory. Use -d to point it somewhere else: 
pool exec -p "Review this project" -d /path/to/project

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Continue from a previous run

Resume from the last run: 
pool exec --continue -p "Now add tests for what you just wrote"
Resume a specific run by ID: 
pool exec --continue=<run-id> -p "Now add tests for what you just wrote"
To find recent run IDs, use pool history logs.

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Output format

By default, pool exec prints Markdown. Use -o json for newline-delimited JSON: 
pool exec -p "List the exported functions in this file" -o json
JSON mode prints event-style records. Common types:
  • thought: Assistant reasoning
  • toolCall: Tool invocations and arguments
  • toolCallResult: Tool results
  • oauth_url: Browser authentication required
Use JSON mode when another tool needs to consume the output.

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Run in automated mode

Use --unsafe-auto-allow when you want pool exec to run without approval prompts: 
pool exec -p "Review this repository for security issues" --unsafe-auto-allow
Use this only in trusted non-interactive environments. Explicit deny rules still apply.