JetBrains Central CLI Help

Agents

Once JetBrains Central CLI is installed and you are logged in, you connect the agents you want to use. From then on you keep launching each agent the way you always have, and JetBrains Central CLI routes its requests through JetBrains Central. This page covers connecting and disconnecting agents, checking your usage, and seeing which agents you are allowed to use.

Connect an agent

There are two ways to connect an agent, and you can mix them freely:

  • Permanent connection

  • One-off run

Permanent connection

One-off run

Command

central add <agent>

central run <agent>

Agent configuration

Modified, with a backup made first

Left untouched

Applies to

Every future launch of the agent

That one session only

Undo

central remove <agent>

Nothing to undo

Best for

Day-to-day use

Trying it out, or keeping a direct-provider setup alongside

Connect permanently (Wire)

A permanent connection updates the agent's own configuration file, so every launch from then on is routed for you:

central add claude
central add codex
central add gemini
central add junie
central add pi

Connect an agent from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Select Wire agents, then pick the agent. If only one agent is installed, the menu offers it directly (for example, Wire Claude Agent).

The change is a narrow one. JetBrains Central CLI adds only the settings the agent needs to reach the proxy and leaves everything else in the file as it was. If the agent already has a configuration file, a timestamped copy is saved next to it first, so you can see what the file looked like before:

~/.claude/settings.backup.2025-02-08T14-30-45.json

Route a single session (One-off run)

central run routes one session and writes nothing to the agent's configuration. The proxy starts automatically if it is not already running. Anything after -- is passed straight to the agent:

central run codex -- "explain this code"

Because nothing is written to disk, an agent you have never connected keeps working exactly as before once the session ends.

Use a connected agent

Launch the agent the way you always have:

claude "explain this code"
codex "refactor this function"
gemini "review this PR"
junie
pi

Your usual model picker still works, and the models you had available before remain available. Requests are authenticated with your JetBrains Account and billed to your JetBrains AI subscription, so no vendor API key is involved.

Disconnect an agent

To undo a permanent connection and put the agent back the way it was:

central remove claude
central remove codex
central remove gemini
central remove junie
central remove pi

Disconnect an agent from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Select the reset entry for that agent — for example, Reset Claude Agent.

Only the settings JetBrains Central CLI added are taken out. Proxy entries, hooks, and options you configured yourself are left in place, and the agent goes back to reaching its provider directly.

Check your usage

To see how much of your AI allowance you have used:

central limit

The command reports a usage limit when your access comes from a workspace seat, and a quota when it comes from a license. Either way the figures are in AI credits — how many you have used, how many remain, and the period they apply to.

Check your usage from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Go to More... | Quota — or More... | Limit, since that entry is named after whichever of the two applies to you.

Check the current state

central status answers the three important questions: whether you are logged in, whether the proxy is running, and which agents are connected.

$ central status ⣿ Auth logged in (AI Pro) ⣿ Proxy running on :19516 ⣿ Agents Claude Agent, Codex

This is the first thing to run when an agent behaves unexpectedly — see Troubleshooting.

See which agents you can use

To list every supported agent along with its current state:

central agents

Agents you cannot currently use are dimmed, with the reason next to them:

  • Blocked by AI governance. Your organization's allow-list does not include this agent. It cannot be connected, and if it was connected before, it is disconnected automatically once it leaves the list.

  • Not supported with service accounts. The agent needs a personal account, so it is unavailable on a service-account session.

  • Not supported with the Bedrock protocol. The agent does not work with the protocol your organization has provisioned.

See the list from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Go to More... | Supported agents.

  3. Select an agent to open its documentation in your browser.

There, each agent shows whether it is installed and whether it is connected, agents your session cannot use are grouped under Unsupported agents with the reason beside them, and blocked ones under Agents blocked by AI governance.

An agent that is installed but blocked also appears on the main menu, dimmed and marked blocked, so you can see why it is not offered without opening the list. Blocked agents you have not installed are not shown there.

Refresh the allow-list

JetBrains Central CLI keeps a local copy of your organization's agent allow-list so it can tell you what you may use without asking the server every time. The copy is refreshed when you log in, when you switch AI access source, and about once an hour while the proxy is running — so in normal use it stays current on its own.

If your administrator has just changed the policy and you do not want to wait, refresh it yourself:

central agents refresh

Refresh from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Go to More... | Supported agents | Refresh agent settings, which reports the result on the spot.

The entry is offered only when your organization manages agent settings — on an unmanaged session there is no policy to fetch, so it is absent.

A successful refresh updates the list immediately and disconnects any agent that is no longer allowed. If the refresh fails — for example, because you are offline — the previous list stays in force and nothing is disconnected. Run central agents afterwards to see the result.

Review the request log

JetBrains Central CLI keeps a local record of every request it forwards on behalf of an agent. To read it:

central log

An entry shows when the request was made, which agent made it, the platform path it reached, the HTTP method and status, and how long it took. Failed requests also carry the error message and a trace ID you can quote when you contact support. Prompts and responses are never recorded — the log holds metadata only, and it never leaves your machine. For the full list of recorded fields, see Data collection.

Browse the log from the interactive interface

  1. Run central.

  2. Go to More... | AI Logs.

There, t filters by time, s filters by success or error, r clears the filters, R reloads the data, q goes back to the menu, and the arrow keys page through the history.

The files live in ~/.jetbrains-central/analytics/. JetBrains Central CLI keeps the five most recent, at 1000 entries each, and drops the oldest as new ones are written. To clear the history, delete the directory — it is recreated with the next request:

rm -rf ~/.jetbrains-central/analytics
18 September 2026