Everyday commands (start here)
BitCadence has a short set of plain commands for everyday use. Type bitcadence on its own to get a menu
you can arrow through, or use the words below. Every older mco command still works exactly as before.
The menu
bitcadence
It opens a menu with live counts ("Approvals (2 waiting)", "Fix problems (1)"). Arrow keys or j/k move, and
numbers 1–9 jump to an item. In scripts, CI, or with MCO_NO_MENU=1, it prints help instead and never waits for
input. bitcadence --no-menu does the same on purpose.
The everyday words
| You want to… | Type | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Start BitCadence | bitcadence start |
Starts in the background, with no window left open |
| See what needs you | bitcadence status |
A plain summary of what's waiting, what's running and any problems |
| Get something done | bitcadence ask "tidy the install docs" |
Drafts a plan, shows it, and asks before anything runs |
| OK waiting work | bitcadence approve |
Walks through what's waiting, one at a time |
| Fix what's wrong | bitcadence fix |
Finds problems and offers each repair. Y/n each time |
| Connect an AI app | bitcadence connect claude |
Finds the app (claude, gemini or cursor) and writes its settings |
| Pause everything | bitcadence pause |
Stops work in progress and holds new work |
| Carry on | bitcadence resume |
Picks up after a pause |
| See your helpers | bitcadence helpers |
Who's ready, busy or stuck |
| Add a helper | bitcadence helpers add |
Asks what it needs and saves its credentials safely (you never see the full token) |
| See schedules | bitcadence schedule list |
Every schedule and loop, with its next run time |
Skipping the questions: most of these accept --yes (or -y) for scripts, for example bitcadence fix --yes.
More detail: bitcadence status --details shows the technical diagnostics (the old mco status view), and
bitcadence status --json and bitcadence helpers --json are for scripts.
Run a saved plan file: bitcadence ask --file plan.yaml loads a workflow file and submits it for real.
It isn't a dry run; use mco workflow plan.yaml --dry-run to preview one.
Anything else: bitcadence advanced <command> runs any original command, for example
bitcadence advanced audit <job-id>.
When something goes wrong
Errors say what happened in one sentence, plus the next command to run, usually bitcadence fix.
Use bitcadence --debug status to see technical error details; global options go before the command.
Still on the roadmap
The current CLI includes the approver-rights repair prompt and schedule-add wizard. See the complete reference for exact arguments and effects. Pausing one helper and the redesigned desktop mockups are separate from the shipped everyday commands; do not assume a design document describes an installed feature.