Search the Dialtone version installed in your project from the command line.
The Dialtone CLI searches components, design tokens, CSS utility classes, icons, and documentation from your terminal. Run it from your project to get results that match the version of Dialtone you have installed.
Use the CLI for direct lookups, shell scripts, and compact context for coding agents. Use the Dialtone MCP Server when you want an AI assistant to search Dialtone through Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools.
Install the CLI globally:
npm install -g @dialpad/dialtone-cli
Confirm the installation:
dialtone --help
Run CLI commands from the root of your project. When the CLI finds installed Dialtone packages, it prints the version it is using:
Using local Dialtone data (v8.81.0)
Without local Dialtone data, the CLI uses the data bundled with @dialpad/dialtone-cli.
Search across Dialtone when you do not know which command to use:
dialtone search "button"
Then narrow the lookup to the relevant part of the system:
dialtone component button --props --describe
dialtone token "color foreground primary"
dialtone utility "padding 8px"
dialtone docs "how to choose button importance"
Add --format json when a script or coding agent needs structured output:
dialtone component button --format json
| Command | Use it to |
|---|---|
dialtone search <query> | Search components, documentation, tokens, utility classes, and icons. |
dialtone component <name> | Read a component's API, including props, events, slots, and examples. |
dialtone token <query> | Find design tokens and inspect theme values. |
dialtone utility <query> | Find CSS utility classes by property or value. |
dialtone docs <query> | Search usage guidance, recipes, accessibility guidance, and patterns. |
dialtone prompt <name> | Generate compact component context for a coding agent. |
Run dialtone <command> --help to see every option for a command.
Use search for broad discovery. Results are grouped across all available Dialtone data, including icons and documentation.
dialtone search "button"
dialtone search "padding 8px"
dialtone search "notification"
Separate terms with | to search for any of them:
dialtone search "input|select|menu"
The CLI returns 20 results by default. Set a different limit, or use --limit 0 to return all matches:
dialtone search "button" --limit 5
dialtone search "button" --limit 0
The CLI does not have a separate icon command. Search by an icon's name, category, or keyword instead:
dialtone search "calendar" --format json
Use component to inspect the public API for the closest component match:
dialtone component button
dialtone component DtModal
Filter the output when you only need one part of the API:
dialtone component button --props
dialtone component button --props --describe
dialtone component button --prop kind
dialtone component button --events
dialtone component button --slots
dialtone component button --examples
--prop returns the prop type, description, and accepted values. If the prop does not exist, the CLI lists the available prop names.
Use token to search by a token name, category, semantic purpose, or value:
dialtone token "color foreground primary"
dialtone token "spacing 400"
Use --values to show theme values for the first match:
dialtone token "color foreground primary" --values
HSL decomposition tokens are excluded by default. Include them with --all:
dialtone token "color foreground" --all
Use utility to search by a CSS property, value, or both:
dialtone utility "padding 8px"
dialtone utility "display flex"
dialtone utility "margin auto"
Search results include the class name and its CSS declaration. Deprecated utilities are filtered from the results.
Use docs for questions about how or why to use Dialtone. It searches public guidance, component usage, accessibility guidance, and migration documentation.
dialtone docs "how to choose button importance"
dialtone docs "accessible tooltip labels"
dialtone docs "migrate physical properties to logical properties"
Documentation is bundled with the CLI rather than resolved from your project's installed Dialtone packages. Update the CLI to refresh this content.
Use prompt to produce a compact component summary with its props, slots, events, and import path:
dialtone prompt button
Copy the result to your clipboard on macOS:
dialtone prompt modal | pbcopy
Use JSON when the receiving tool needs structured data:
dialtone prompt tooltip --format json
Every command accepts --format:
| Format | Output | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
minimal | Compact plain text. This is the default. | Terminal lookups and copying small results. |
markdown | Markdown-formatted text. | Documentation and text-based prompts. |
json | Structured JSON. | Scripts, editor tooling, and coding agents. |
For programmatic use, prefer --format json instead of parsing the default terminal output.
The CLI resolves data from the directory where you run it. It checks these sources in order:
@dialpad/dialtone-css, @dialpad/dialtone-vue, and @dialpad/dialtone-icons packages.@dialpad/dialtone package.@dialpad/dialtone-cli.The CLI uses local component APIs, tokens, utility classes, and icons when their generated data is available. It falls back to bundled data for anything it cannot resolve. Documentation search always uses the content bundled with the CLI.
Use --bundled when you want to ignore installed packages and query the CLI's bundled data:
dialtone --bundled search "button"
The CLI and MCP server use the same Dialtone search engine. Choose the interface that fits the task.
| Task | Recommended interface |
|---|---|
| Check the Dialtone version installed in a project | CLI |
| Look up a prop, token, utility class, or icon from a terminal | CLI |
| Use Dialtone data in a shell script | CLI with --format json |
| Add compact component context to a coding prompt | CLI with prompt |
| Let an MCP-compatible AI client choose and run searches | MCP Server |
You can install both. The CLI handles explicit terminal queries; the MCP server lets an AI client call Dialtone search tools directly.
The CLI checks npm for a newer version without blocking a command. Update it globally when an update is available:
npm install -g @dialpad/dialtone-cli@latest
Updating refreshes bundled documentation and the fallback data used outside a Dialtone project.
Install the package globally, then restart your terminal so it can resolve the dialtone executable:
npm install -g @dialpad/dialtone-cli
Run the command from the project root. The Using local Dialtone data message confirms that the CLI found installed Dialtone package data. If the message is absent, the CLI is using its bundled data.
Start with fewer keywords, then narrow the query. Use | when any of several terms is acceptable:
dialtone search "input|select|menu"
Use the focused component, token, utility, or docs command once you know which type of result you need.
Dialtone CLI documentation last updated Friday, September 4, 2026
fix/popover-modal-zindex-scope