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How to run a research project from the terminal without the Web build with Forest

Use the FOREST CLI and API service to create and monitor a research project on a server or in scripts.

  • Research
  • Intermediate
  • 30 minutes
  • From the README
  • Any agent

Who it is forAn engineer or lab member working on a remote machine who wants to manage research projects from the command line or from an automated script.

The problemA Web browser is not available on the compute host, and the research state needs to be controlled from scripts.

The outcomeA running headless FOREST service with a project initialized from the CLI and a status report showing its current state.

What you need first

  • Python 3.11 or newer
  • Node.js 22 or newer for the Web workspace
  • Git installed on the worker machine
  • A model provider configured in Settings or through the API
  • An explicit spending budget and execution limits set before unattended runs
  • tectonic or pdflatex if you want PDF compilation

Steps

  1. Install without Node.js or the Web build with python3.11 scripts/install.py --headless.
  2. Start the API and worker with .venv/bin/forest serve --headless --data-dir ./var and keep that terminal running.
  3. In a second terminal, create a project with .venv/bin/forest init --name "My research" --goal "Your research question".
  4. Check progress with .venv/bin/forest status and list commands with .venv/bin/forest --help.

Prompt for your agent

In the FOREST repository at <repo path>, run the headless install, start the service with a data directory of <data dir>, and initialize a project with the goal <research goal>. Report the output of the status command. Verify that the project name in the status output matches the name you passed to init.

Caveat. The CLI guide and the numerical experiment example are linked from the README, and the example runs without model calls, so use it to check the setup before adding a provider.

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