10x CLI
A terminal coding assistant that chains model tiers into multi-step workflows for review, debugging, refactoring, and testing.
What does this agent do, and when should you use it?
10x is a coding-assistant CLI installed globally with npm and run from a shell. It offers an interactive session as well as one-shot prompt execution with `-x`. Its Superpowers break complex work into steps that can use different model tiers. Projects can supply context through a root-level `10X.md`, while additional skills and workflows can be defined in `.10x/skills/`, `.10x/superpowers/`, or the corresponding user configuration directories. The documented built-in workflows cover code review, pull-request descriptions, refactoring, debugging, code explanation, and test generation.
Running 10x starts an interactive session, while 10x -x "<prompt>" executes a prompt and exits. /review <path> performs security, performance, and style analysis for a path; /pr generates a PR description from staged or committed changes; /refactor <file> provides analysis and implementation for a refactor; /debug <issue> follows reproduce, analyze, and fix steps; /explain <path> explains code architecture; and /test <file> generates a comprehensive test suite. Custom Superpowers are Markdown files with name and trigger metadata; the shown template passes user input through {{input}}, makes an earlier step’s result available as {{previous}}, and assigns tiers such as fast or smart per step.
- A developer reviewing a file or directory from the terminal can run `/review <path>` for security, performance, and style analysis.
- An engineer preparing a pull request can run `/pr` after staging or committing changes to generate its description.
- A maintainer who needs to understand and then modify a source file can use `/refactor <file>` for guided analysis and implementation.
- A developer investigating a reported defect can use `/debug <issue>` to work through reproduction, analysis, and a fix.
- A project contributor needing tests for a particular file can run `/test <file>` to generate a comprehensive suite.
What are this agent's strengths and limitations?
- It includes concrete commands for review, PR-description generation, refactoring, debugging, explanation, and test generation.
- Superpowers can split a task into multiple steps and assign a different model tier to each step.
- Project- and user-level Markdown skill and workflow directories support team-specific extensions.
- A documented `--byok` mode uses an OpenRouter API key supplied by the user.
- The documentation does not state where to configure an OpenRouter API key, how authentication works, or how costs are controlled.
- Its model tiers are named around GPT OSS 20B, Kimi K2 1T, and Claude Opus 4; the source does not document how to add models or providers.
- The “up to 20x faster” statement is a project claim without benchmark methodology, workload conditions, or reproducible results.
- Supported operating systems, Node.js versions, offline behavior, data-handling boundaries, and retry behavior are not documented.
How do you install or deploy this agent?
In a terminal with npm, run:npm install -g 10x-cli
Then start it with:10x
To use your own OpenRouter API key, run 10x --byok; the documentation does not specify how that key is configured.
How do you use this agent?
Start an interactive session with 10x. For a one-shot request, use 10x -x "Explain src/app.ts". Select a tier with 10x --model <tier>, where the documented tiers are superfast, fast, and smart; restore a session with 10x --resume <name>. Put project context in a root 10X.md, custom skills in .10x/skills/ and invoke them as /<skill-name>, and custom workflows in .10x/superpowers/.
How does this agent compare with similar options?
The README’s feature table compares 10x with Claude Code, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot, positioning 10x around multi-step Superpowers, smart model routing, and BYOK; it does not provide independent performance benchmarks or compatibility detail.