Install and log in

You need Node 22.18 or later, and nothing else: no account, no key and no network on localhost.

npx runs the package without installing anything:

magic values: none

$ npx services.dev --version
0.3.0

init adds services.dev to your folder's devDependencies. After npm install, npx services.dev runs that pinned version, on your machine and in CI alike.

To type services.dev without npx, install it once:

$ npm install --global services.dev
$ services.dev --version
0.3.0

Every command on these pages works either way.

dev prints a test key, and a call that sends no key uses it:

$ npx services.dev
lingua · AI delivers every job.
  key     sk_test_7Hq2 · a call with no key uses it, on localhost only

Set SERVICES_DEV_KEY and every call sends it as Authorization: Bearer. The CLI then reads a job the way that key does, with the buyer's view and no owner's record or ledger. A key that isn't your brand's is refused, and the exit code says so:

magic values: none

$ SERVICES_DEV_KEY=sk_test_7Hq2 npx services.dev get job_7Hq2
job_7Hq2 · waiting · on signature · $89.00 held
$ echo $?
0

$ SERVICES_DEV_KEY=sk_live_51Hq2 npx services.dev get job_7Hq2
sk_live_51Hq… isn't one of lingua's keys. On localhost the key is sk_test_7Hq2.
  docs    http://localhost:8787/docs/errors/key_invalid
$ echo $?
4

Exit code 4 is authentication. Every code is in In CI.

SERVICES_DEV_KEY says who is calling. The --key a command takes is something else: an idempotency key, so the same order sent twice makes one job.

• services.dev login signs you in from your browser, so the CLI can deploy your brand and read its live jobs.
• services.dev keys makes your brand's test and live keys. A CI job sets one as SERVICES_DEV_KEY from its secrets, and every command in it calls your deployed brand as that key.

A CI job that only checks needs no key at all: it runs check, and serves dev on localhost for anything that calls the brand.

• In CI: run check on every push.
• Listening locally: watch your brand's events as they happen.