Instructor CLI Tools¶

Command Line Utilities

Powerful tools to enhance your Instructor workflow

View Commands
Usage Monitoring

Track API usage, costs, and token consumption

Usage Guide
Model Fine-Tuning

Create and manage custom model versions

Fine-Tuning Guide
Documentation Access

Quickly access docs from your terminal

Docs Command

Getting Started¶

Installation¶

The CLI tools are included with the Instructor package:

pip install instructor

API Setup¶

Set your OpenAI API key as an environment variable:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Available Commands¶

Instructor provides several command-line utilities:

Command	Description	Guide
`instructor usage`	Track API usage and costs	Usage Guide
`instructor finetune`	Create and manage fine-tuned models	Fine-Tuning Guide
`instructor docs`	Quick access to documentation	See below

Usage Command¶

Monitor your OpenAI API usage directly from the terminal:

# View total usage for the current month
instructor usage

# View usage breakdown by day
instructor usage --by-day

# Calculate cost for a specific model
instructor usage --model gpt-5.4-mini

For detailed usage statistics and options, see the Usage Guide.

Fine-Tuning Command¶

Create and manage fine-tuned models with an interactive interface:

# Start the fine-tuning interface
instructor finetune

This launches an interactive application that guides you through the fine-tuning process. Learn more in the Fine-Tuning Guide.

Documentation Command¶

Quickly access Instructor documentation from your terminal:

# Open main documentation
instructor docs

# Search for specific topic
instructor docs validation

# Open specific page
instructor docs concepts/models

This command opens the Instructor documentation in your default web browser, making it easy to find information when you need it.

Support & Contribution¶

GitHub: Visit our GitHub Repository
Issues: Report bugs or request features on our Issue Tracker
Discord: Join our Discord Community for support

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