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Installation

Install Nelson CLI globally using npm: 
npm install -g nelson-muntz-cli
Nelson CLI requires Node.js 18 or higher

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Set Up Your API Key

Nelson uses Claude’s API, so you’ll need an Anthropic API key.
1

Get your API key

Visit console.anthropic.com and create an API key.
2

Set the environment variable

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
Add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent

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Launch Nelson

nelson
You’ll see the animated Nelson logo and welcome screen: 
  ███╗  ██╗███████╗██╗     ███████╗ ██████╗ ███╗  ██╗
  ████╗ ██║██╔════╝██║     ██╔════╝██╔═══██╗████╗ ██║
  ██╔██╗██║█████╗  ██║     ███████╗██║   ██║██╔██╗██║
  ██║╚████║██╔══╝  ██║     ╚════██║██║   ██║██║╚████║
  ██║ ╚███║███████╗███████╗███████║╚██████╔╝██║ ╚███║
  ╚═╝  ╚══╝╚══════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚══╝

              ★ HA-HA! Welcome to Nelson CLI! ★

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Your First Conversation

Just type naturally and press Enter: 
You: Help me create a function that validates email addresses

Nelson: HA-HA! Email validation? Let me show you how it's done...
Nelson will write the code, explain it, and even save it to a file if you ask.

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Try Some Commands

/help

Show all available commands

/clear

Clear the screen

/nelson-loop

Start an iterative development loop

/exit

Exit Nelson CLI

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Example Session

Here’s a quick example of what Nelson can do: 
You: Create a simple Express server with a health endpoint

Nelson: HA-HA! An Express server? Easy. Let me set that up for you...

🔧 Tool: write_file
✅ Tool: write_file

Created server.js with a basic Express setup. Here's what I wrote:

- Express server on port 3000
- GET /health endpoint returning { status: 'ok' }
- Error handling middleware

Run it with: node server.js

Want me to add more endpoints or set up tests?

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Next Steps

Learn Commands

Master all Nelson CLI commands

Nelson Loop

Set up iterative development cycles