shell

Run a local shell command. Captures stdout / stderr / exit_code.

Source	internal/agents/workflow/nodes/shell.go
When to use	Operating on local files, running a CLI tool, escape hatch for anything wick hasn't typed yet.
Gate	Participates in Command Gate policy when enabled — PermissionMode applies.

Schema

Field	Type	Required	Notes
command	template	✅	The command line. Rendered as Go template.
cwd	path (template)		Working directory. Default: workflow folder.
env	map (template)		Extra environment variables. Each value is rendered.
parse_output	dropdown		raw (default) / json / lines.
timeout_sec	int		Per-call timeout in seconds.

Output

Field	Type	What
stdout	string	Captured stdout.
stderr	string	Captured stderr.
exit_code	int	Process exit code.

When parse_output: json and stdout is valid JSON, the parsed value is also merged into .Node.<id>.* (so {"foo": "bar"} exposes .Node.<id>.foo). parse_output: lines splits stdout on \n and stores the array under .Node.<id>.lines.

Example

{
  "id": "count_files",
  "type": "shell",
  "command": "find {{.Env.PROJECT_DIR}} -name \"*.go\" | wc -l",
  "parse_output": "raw"
}

Pair with

• go_script — pure Go alternative when you don't need to spawn a process.
• transform — reshape the captured output before passing downstream.
• http — for HTTP-only side-effects, prefer this over curl.