FileRouter CLI Commands: parse, compare, login, providers

The FileRouter CLI ships four commands: login authenticates your session, parse sends a document to a single provider, compare runs the same document through multiple providers side by side, and providers lists what’s available. Every command supports npx @file_router/cli <command> or the filerouter binary if you installed the CLI globally.

Authenticate this CLI with FileRouter using your browser. The login command opens your browser for authorization and saves an API key to your machine once you approve.

npx @file_router/cli login

You only need to run login once. The CLI reuses the saved key for all subsequent commands.

You can skip login entirely by setting the FILEROUTER_API_KEY environment variable. The CLI reads it automatically on every invocation.

parse

Parse a single document with one provider and print the result to your terminal.

npx @file_router/cli parse <file-or-url>

Arguments and flags

input

string

required

A local file path or a publicly accessible URL. This is the document you want to parse.

--provider

string

default:"llamaparse"

The provider to use. Alias: -p. Accepted values: llamaparse, mistral-ocr, datalab.

--outputs

string

default:"markdown"

Comma-separated list of output types to request. Alias: -o. Example: markdown,images.

--json

boolean

default:"false"

Write the complete parse result as JSON instead of the default text output.

--out

string

Write output to a file at the given path instead of printing to stdout.

--local

boolean

default:"false"

Use your provider API key directly (BYOK mode). Bypasses the hosted FileRouter service. See BYOK Mode for details.

Examples

npx @file_router/cli parse report.pdf

npx @file_router/cli parse report.pdf --provider mistral-ocr

npx @file_router/cli parse report.pdf --outputs markdown,images

npx @file_router/cli parse report.pdf --json --out result.json

npx @file_router/cli parse https://example.com/document.pdf

compare

Run the same document through multiple providers in parallel and view the results side by side.

npx @file_router/cli compare <file-or-url>

Arguments and flags

input

string

required

A local file path or a publicly accessible URL. FileRouter sends this document to each provider you specify.

--providers

string

default:"llamaparse,mistral-ocr,datalab"

Comma-separated list of provider IDs to include in the comparison. Alias: -p. Omit this flag to compare all providers at once.

--outputs

string

default:"markdown"

Comma-separated list of output types to request from every provider. Alias: -o.

--json

boolean

default:"false"

Write the complete comparison result as JSON instead of the summary table.

--out

string

Write output to a file at the given path instead of printing to stdout.

--local

boolean

default:"false"

Use your own provider API keys directly (BYOK mode). Bypasses the hosted FileRouter service. See BYOK Mode for details.

Examples

npx @file_router/cli compare report.pdf

npx @file_router/cli compare report.pdf --providers llamaparse,mistral-ocr

npx @file_router/cli compare report.pdf --json --out comparison.json

npx @file_router/cli compare https://example.com/document.pdf

The default text output shows a summary table:

Compared report.pdf

PROVIDER         STATUS      DETAIL
llamaparse       success     1423ms
mistral-ocr      success     891ms
datalab          success     2104ms

providers

List all available document providers and the output types each one supports.

npx @file_router/cli providers

Flags

--json

boolean

default:"false"

Write provider metadata as JSON instead of the default text table.

Examples

npx @file_router/cli providers

npx @file_router/cli providers --json

Text output:

llamaparse       markdown, text, pages, tables, images, json, metadata
mistral-ocr      images, json, markdown, metadata, pages, tables
datalab          chunks, html, images, json, markdown, metadata

JSON output:

[
  {
    "id": "llamaparse",
    "name": "LlamaParse",
    "capabilities": {
      "execution": "async",
      "features": ["blocks", "page-selection"],
      "outputs": ["markdown", "text", "pages", "tables", "images", "json", "metadata"]
    }
  },
  {
    "id": "mistral-ocr",
    "name": "Mistral OCR",
    "capabilities": {
      "execution": "sync",
      "features": ["blocks", "confidence", "page-selection"],
      "outputs": ["images", "json", "markdown", "metadata", "pages", "tables"]
    }
  },
  {
    "id": "datalab",
    "name": "Datalab",
    "capabilities": {
      "execution": "async",
      "features": ["page-selection"],
      "outputs": ["chunks", "html", "images", "json", "markdown", "metadata"]
    }
  }
]

The providers command works without authentication — it reads the built-in provider catalog locally without making any network requests.

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FileRouter CLI Commands: parse, compare, login, providers

parse

Arguments and flags

Examples

compare

Arguments and flags

Examples

providers

Flags

Examples

​login

​parse

​Arguments and flags

​Examples

​compare

​Arguments and flags

​Examples

​providers

​Flags

​Examples

login

parse

Arguments and flags

Examples

compare

Arguments and flags

Examples

providers

Flags

Examples