Invoking a Golem Agent with golem agent invoke

Both golem and golem-cli can be used — all commands below work with either binary.

Usage

golem agent invoke <AGENT_ID> <FUNCTION_NAME> [ARGUMENTS...]

This invokes a method on a deployed agent and waits for the result. The agent is automatically created on first invocation if it does not exist yet. Standard output, error, and log streams from the agent are streamed live to the terminal by default.

Output

Text output renders return values using Rust syntax. Multiple return values are rendered as a Rust tuple, for example (1, "ok"). Methods returning () or no value print void in text mode.

For machine-readable output, use --format json, --format yaml, or --format toon. Streaming methods emit invocation lifecycle documents in order: accepted, result, any stream item/terminal events, and finished. Scalar fields accompanying streams are in the result event's value.

Streaming Parameters and Results

Use - as the argument for exactly one direct stream parameter to bind it to stdin. By default, --stdin-format value reads one Rust value per line, strips only the line terminator, preserves blank lines as values, and does not accept multiline values. --stdin-format raw is available only for a direct stream<binary> or stream<u8> parameter. For stream<binary>, each logical item is a fixed 64 KiB chunk except the final shorter chunk. For stream<u8>, each byte is one logical item.

printf 'Some(1)\nNone\n' | golem agent invoke 'MyAgent()' consume_values -
cat input.bin | golem agent invoke 'MyAgent()' consume_bytes - --stdin-format raw

--stdout-format value is the default and renders stream items as Rust values. --stdout-format raw writes only bytes and requires exactly one direct stream<binary> or stream<u8> result.

golem agent invoke 'MyAgent()' produce_values --stdout-format value
golem agent invoke 'MyAgent()' produce_bytes --stdout-format raw > output.bin

In structured CLI formats, invocation output is a sequence of lifecycle documents rather than one object or array. Streaming invocation is durable: disconnecting or pressing Ctrl-C detaches the current transport without cancelling the invocation. The CLI does not retry automatically. Use --save-session <PATH> on the initial invocation, then --resume-session <PATH> after a detach or --takeover-session <PATH> to fence an attached transport explicitly.

Agent ID Format

The agent ID identifies the agent type and its constructor parameters:

AgentTypeName(param1, param2, ...)

The agent ID can optionally be prefixed with environment or application paths:

Format	Description
AgentTypeName(params)	Standalone agent name
env/AgentTypeName(params)	Environment-specific
app/env/AgentTypeName(params)	Application and environment-specific
account/app/env/AgentTypeName(params)	Account, application, and environment-specific

For agents with no constructor parameters, use empty parentheses: AgentTypeName().

Examples

Invoke a method with no parameters

golem agent invoke 'MyAgent()' get_status

Invoke a method with parameters

golem agent invoke 'MyAgent("user-123")' process_order '"order-456"' 42

Invoke with an agent that has constructor parameters

golem agent invoke 'ChatRoom("general")' send_message '"Hello, world!"'

Invoke in a specific environment

golem agent invoke 'staging/MyAgent("user-123")' get_status

Available Options

Option	Description
-t, --trigger	Only trigger the invocation without waiting for the result (fire-and-forget)
-i, --idempotency-key <KEY>	Set a specific idempotency key; use "-" for auto-generated
--no-stream	Disable live streaming of agent stdout/stderr/log
--stdin-format value|raw	Select stdin stream framing; defaults to value
--stdout-format value|raw	Select stream result rendering; defaults to value
--schedule-at <DATETIME>	Schedule the invocation at a specific time (requires --trigger; ISO 8601 format)

Idempotency

Every invocation uses an idempotency key. If not provided, one is generated automatically. The same idempotency key guarantees that the invocation is executed at most once, even if the CLI call is retried.

golem agent invoke -i my-unique-key 'MyAgent()' do_work

Auto-Deploy

If the agent's component has not been deployed yet and the CLI is run from an application directory, golem agent invoke will automatically build and deploy the component before invoking.

Value Syntax

The agent ID parameters and method arguments use Rust syntax:

• Field names use snake_case
• Options: Some(value) / None
• Records: MyRecord { field_one: 1, field_two: "hello" }
• Enums/Variants: MyEnum::VariantName or MyEnum::VariantName(value)
• Tuples: (1, "hello")
• Results: Ok(value) / Err(value)

golem agent invoke 'MyAgent("user-123")' update_profile 'MyProfile { display_name: "Alice", age: Some(30) }'