parallel-cli skill

Parallel CLI

Use parallel-cli when the user explicitly wants Parallel, or when a terminal-native workflow would benefit from Parallel's vendor-specific stack for web search, extraction, deep research, enrichment, entity discovery, or monitoring.

This is an optional third-party workflow, not a Hermes core capability.

Important expectations:

• Parallel is a paid service with a free tier, not a fully free local tool.
• It overlaps with Hermes native websearch / webextract, so do not prefer it by default for ordinary lookups.
• Prefer this skill when the user mentions Parallel specifically or needs capabilities like Parallel's enrichment, FindAll, or monitor workflows.

parallel-cli is designed for agents:

• JSON output via --json
• Non-interactive command execution
• Async long-running jobs with --no-wait, status, and poll
• Context chaining with --previous-interaction-id
• Search, extract, research, enrichment, entity discovery, and monitoring in one CLI

When to use it

Prefer this skill when:

• The user explicitly mentions Parallel or parallel-cli
• The task needs richer workflows than a simple one-shot search/extract pass
• You need async deep research jobs that can be launched and polled later
• You need structured enrichment, FindAll entity discovery, or monitoring

Prefer Hermes native websearch / webextract for quick one-off lookups when Parallel is not specifically requested.

Installation

Try the least invasive install path available for the environment.

Homebrew

brew install parallel-web/tap/parallel-cli

npm

npm install -g parallel-web-cli

Python package

pip install "parallel-web-tools[cli]"

Standalone installer

curl -fsSL https://parallel.ai/install.sh | bash

If you want an isolated Python install, pipx can also work:

pipx install "parallel-web-tools[cli]"
pipx ensurepath

Authentication

Interactive login:

parallel-cli login

Headless / SSH / CI:

parallel-cli login --device

API key environment variable:

export PARALLEL_API_KEY="***"

Verify current auth status:

parallel-cli auth

If auth requires browser interaction, run with pty=true.

Core rule set

1. Always prefer --json when you need machine-readable output.
2. Prefer explicit arguments and non-interactive flows.
3. For long-running jobs, use --no-wait and then status / poll.
4. Cite only URLs returned by the CLI output.
5. Save large JSON outputs to a temp file when follow-up questions are likely.
6. Use background processes only for genuinely long-running workflows; otherwise run in foreground.
7. Prefer Hermes native tools unless the user wants Parallel specifically or needs Parallel-only workflows.

Quick reference

parallel-cli
├── auth
├── login
├── logout
├── search
├── extract / fetch
├── research run|status|poll|processors
├── enrich run|status|poll|plan|suggest|deploy
├── findall run|ingest|status|poll|result|enrich|extend|schema|cancel
└── monitor create|list|get|update|delete|events|event-group|simulate

Common flags and patterns

Commonly useful flags:

• --json for structured output
• --no-wait for async jobs
• --previous-interaction-id for follow-up tasks that reuse earlier context
• --max-results for search result count
• --mode one-shot|agentic for search behavior
• --include-domains domain1.com,domain2.com
• --exclude-domains domain1.com,domain2.com
• --after-date YYYY-MM-DD

Read from stdin when convenient:

echo "What is the latest funding for Anthropic?" | parallel-cli search - --json
echo "Research question" | parallel-cli research run - --json

Search

Use for current web lookups with structured results.

parallel-cli search "What is Anthropic's latest AI model?" --json
parallel-cli search "SEC filings for Apple" --include-domains sec.gov --json
parallel-cli search "bitcoin price" --after-date 2026-01-01 --max-results 10 --json
parallel-cli search "latest browser benchmarks" --mode one-shot --json
parallel-cli search "AI coding agent enterprise reviews" --mode agentic --json

Useful constraints:

• --include-domains to narrow trusted sources
• --exclude-domains to strip noisy domains
• --after-date for recency filtering
• --max-results when you need broader coverage

If you expect follow-up questions, save output:

parallel-cli search "latest React 19 changes" --json -o ~/.hermes/cache/scratch/react-19-search.json

When summarizing results:

• lead with the answer
• include dates, names, and concrete facts
• cite only returned sources
• avoid inventing URLs or source titles

Extraction

Use to pull clean content or markdown from a URL.

parallel-cli extract https://example.com --json
parallel-cli extract https://company.com --objective "Find pricing info" --json
parallel-cli extract https://example.com --full-content --json
parallel-cli fetch https://example.com --json

Use --objective when the page is broad and you only need one slice of information.

Deep research

Use for deeper multi-step research tasks that may take time.

Common processor tiers:

• lite / base for faster, cheaper passes
• core / pro for more thorough synthesis
• ultra for the heaviest research jobs

Synchronous