feat(cli): add workspace and config flags to agent

README.md

@@ -710,6 +710,9 @@ nanobot provider login openai-codex
 **3. Chat:**
 ```bash
 nanobot agent -m "Hello!"
+
+# Target a specific workspace/config locally
+nanobot agent -w ~/.nanobot/botA -c ~/.nanobot/botA/config.json -m "Hello!"
 ```
 
 > Docker users: use `docker run -it` for interactive OAuth login.
@@ -917,6 +920,15 @@ Each instance has its own:
 - Cron jobs storage (`workspace/cron/jobs.json`)
 - Configuration (if using `--config`)
 
+To open a CLI session against one of these instances locally:
+
+```bash
+nanobot agent -w ~/.nanobot/botA -m "Hello from botA"
+nanobot agent -w ~/.nanobot/botC -c ~/.nanobot/botC/config.json
+```
+
+> `nanobot agent` starts a local CLI agent using the selected workspace/config. It does not attach to or proxy through an already running `nanobot gateway` process.
+
 
 ## CLI Reference
 
@@ -924,6 +936,8 @@ Each instance has its own:
 |---------|-------------|
 | `nanobot onboard` | Initialize config & workspace |
 | `nanobot agent -m "..."` | Chat with the agent |
+| `nanobot agent -w <workspace>` | Chat against a specific workspace |
+| `nanobot agent -w <workspace> -c <config>` | Chat against a specific workspace/config |
 | `nanobot agent` | Interactive chat mode |
 | `nanobot agent --no-markdown` | Show plain-text replies |
 | `nanobot agent --logs` | Show runtime logs during chat |

nanobot/cli/commands.py

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ from pathlib import Path
 
 # Force UTF-8 encoding for Windows console
 if sys.platform == "win32":
-    import locale
     if sys.stdout.encoding != "utf-8":
         os.environ["PYTHONIOENCODING"] = "utf-8"
         # Re-open stdout/stderr with UTF-8 encoding
@@ -248,6 +247,17 @@ def _make_provider(config: Config):
     )
 
 
+def _load_runtime_config(config: str | None = None, workspace: str | None = None) -> Config:
+    """Load config and optionally override the active workspace."""
+    from nanobot.config.loader import load_config
+
+    config_path = Path(config) if config else None
+    loaded = load_config(config_path)
+    if workspace:
+        loaded.agents.defaults.workspace = workspace
+    return loaded
+
+
 # ============================================================================
 # Gateway / Server
 # ============================================================================
@@ -264,7 +274,6 @@ def gateway(
     from nanobot.agent.loop import AgentLoop
     from nanobot.bus.queue import MessageBus
     from nanobot.channels.manager import ChannelManager
-    from nanobot.config.loader import load_config
     from nanobot.cron.service import CronService
     from nanobot.cron.types import CronJob
     from nanobot.heartbeat.service import HeartbeatService
@@ -274,10 +283,7 @@ def gateway(
         import logging
         logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
 
-    config_path = Path(config) if config else None
-    config = load_config(config_path)
-    if workspace:
-        config.agents.defaults.workspace = workspace
+    config = _load_runtime_config(config, workspace)
 
     console.print(f"{__logo__} Starting nanobot gateway on port {port}...")
     sync_workspace_templates(config.workspace_path)
@@ -448,6 +454,8 @@ def gateway(
 def agent(
     message: str = typer.Option(None, "--message", "-m", help="Message to send to the agent"),
     session_id: str = typer.Option("cli:direct", "--session", "-s", help="Session ID"),
+    workspace: str | None = typer.Option(None, "--workspace", "-w", help="Workspace directory"),
+    config: str | None = typer.Option(None, "--config", "-c", help="Config file path"),
     markdown: bool = typer.Option(True, "--markdown/--no-markdown", help="Render assistant output as Markdown"),
     logs: bool = typer.Option(False, "--logs/--no-logs", help="Show nanobot runtime logs during chat"),
 ):
@@ -456,10 +464,10 @@ def agent(
 
     from nanobot.agent.loop import AgentLoop
     from nanobot.bus.queue import MessageBus
-    from nanobot.config.loader import get_data_dir, load_config
+    from nanobot.config.loader import get_data_dir
     from nanobot.cron.service import CronService
 
-    config = load_config()
+    config = _load_runtime_config(config, workspace)
     sync_workspace_templates(config.workspace_path)
 
     bus = MessageBus()

tests/test_commands.py

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 from typer.testing import CliRunner
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def mock_paths():
     """Mock config/workspace paths for test isolation."""
     with patch("nanobot.config.loader.get_config_path") as mock_cp, \
          patch("nanobot.config.loader.save_config") as mock_sc, \
-         patch("nanobot.config.loader.load_config") as mock_lc, \
+         patch("nanobot.config.loader.load_config"), \
          patch("nanobot.utils.helpers.get_workspace_path") as mock_ws:
 
         base_dir = Path("./test_onboard_data")
@@ -128,3 +128,96 @@ def test_litellm_provider_canonicalizes_github_copilot_hyphen_prefix():
 def test_openai_codex_strip_prefix_supports_hyphen_and_underscore():
     assert _strip_model_prefix("openai-codex/gpt-5.1-codex") == "gpt-5.1-codex"
     assert _strip_model_prefix("openai_codex/gpt-5.1-codex") == "gpt-5.1-codex"
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_agent_runtime(tmp_path):
+    """Mock agent command dependencies for focused CLI tests."""
+    config = Config()
+    config.agents.defaults.workspace = str(tmp_path / "default-workspace")
+    data_dir = tmp_path / "data"
+
+    with patch("nanobot.config.loader.load_config", return_value=config) as mock_load_config, \
+         patch("nanobot.config.loader.get_data_dir", return_value=data_dir), \
+         patch("nanobot.cli.commands.sync_workspace_templates") as mock_sync_templates, \
+         patch("nanobot.cli.commands._make_provider", return_value=object()), \
+         patch("nanobot.cli.commands._print_agent_response") as mock_print_response, \
+         patch("nanobot.bus.queue.MessageBus"), \
+         patch("nanobot.cron.service.CronService"), \
+         patch("nanobot.agent.loop.AgentLoop") as mock_agent_loop_cls:
+
+        agent_loop = MagicMock()
+        agent_loop.channels_config = None
+        agent_loop.process_direct = AsyncMock(return_value="mock-response")
+        agent_loop.close_mcp = AsyncMock(return_value=None)
+        mock_agent_loop_cls.return_value = agent_loop
+
+        yield {
+            "config": config,
+            "load_config": mock_load_config,
+            "sync_templates": mock_sync_templates,
+            "agent_loop_cls": mock_agent_loop_cls,
+            "agent_loop": agent_loop,
+            "print_response": mock_print_response,
+        }
+
+
+def test_agent_help_shows_workspace_and_config_options():
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["agent", "--help"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert "--workspace" in result.stdout
+    assert "-w" in result.stdout
+    assert "--config" in result.stdout
+    assert "-c" in result.stdout
+
+
+def test_agent_uses_default_config_when_no_workspace_or_config_flags(mock_agent_runtime):
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["agent", "-m", "hello"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["load_config"].call_args.args == (None,)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["sync_templates"].call_args.args == (
+        mock_agent_runtime["config"].workspace_path,
+    )
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["agent_loop_cls"].call_args.kwargs["workspace"] == (
+        mock_agent_runtime["config"].workspace_path
+    )
+    mock_agent_runtime["agent_loop"].process_direct.assert_awaited_once()
+    mock_agent_runtime["print_response"].assert_called_once_with("mock-response", render_markdown=True)
+
+
+def test_agent_uses_explicit_config_path(mock_agent_runtime):
+    config_path = Path("/tmp/agent-config.json")
+
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["agent", "-m", "hello", "-c", str(config_path)])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["load_config"].call_args.args == (config_path,)
+
+
+def test_agent_overrides_workspace_path(mock_agent_runtime):
+    workspace_path = Path("/tmp/agent-workspace")
+
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["agent", "-m", "hello", "-w", str(workspace_path)])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["config"].agents.defaults.workspace == str(workspace_path)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["sync_templates"].call_args.args == (workspace_path,)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["agent_loop_cls"].call_args.kwargs["workspace"] == workspace_path
+
+
+def test_agent_workspace_override_wins_over_config_workspace(mock_agent_runtime):
+    config_path = Path("/tmp/agent-config.json")
+    workspace_path = Path("/tmp/agent-workspace")
+
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        app,
+        ["agent", "-m", "hello", "-c", str(config_path), "-w", str(workspace_path)],
+    )
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["load_config"].call_args.args == (config_path,)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["config"].agents.defaults.workspace == str(workspace_path)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["sync_templates"].call_args.args == (workspace_path,)
+    assert mock_agent_runtime["agent_loop_cls"].call_args.kwargs["workspace"] == workspace_path