Rename studio ai command to studio code

[sejas]

Related issues

• Fixes STU-1526

Proposed Changes

Registers code as the primary CLI command name, with ai kept as hidden alias for backward compatibility. A single binary now handles both studio code and studio ai, so there's no need for a secondary binary (as discussed in #2990 (comment)).

Update system prompt and subcommands to mention "WordPress Studio Code" as the main.
Changed Assistant with Agent in help commands and system prompt.
Changed AI Sessions to code sessions.

Testing Instructions

• Build the CLI: npm run cli:build
• Run node apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs --help and verify the primary subcommand is code and ai is an alias
• Run node apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs code and verify the AI assistant starts.
• Run node apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs ai and verify the alias still works.
• Run node apps/cli/dist/cli/main.mjs code sessions list and ... ai sessions list to verify subcommands work under both names.
• Run tests: npm test -- apps/cli/commands/ai/tests/ai.test.ts

Pre-merge Checklist

• Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors? (Tests pass, no errors)

[gcsecsey]

Thanks @sejas for tackling this! 🙌

These changes look good to me, and I confirm that both the code and ai commands are working as described. 👍

The ai command is listed as an alias:

Both commands start the code CLI as expected:

code	ai

And both list the previous sessions the same way too:

[gcsecsey]

Nit: maybe we should use "Code sessions" in the messaging here too, to make it canonical with the command?

[Poliuk]

Good catch, I agree cc/ @sejas

[sejas]

Changed! I’m not sure whether “code” should be capitalized, so I left it lowercase. I made the changes in all the subcommands too.

studio/apps/cli/commands/ai/tests/ai.test.ts

Line 191 in 96dfd42

aiYargs.command( 'sessions', __( 'Manage code sessions' ), ( sessionsYargs ) => {

studio code --help

studio code sessions --help

studio code sessions list

[Poliuk]

@sejas is it possible to remove the [aliases: ai] from the command list? If so, please remove it. We are keeping the ai command available only to maintain backward compatibility, but there's no need to surface it in the command list.

It'd also be nice to display a message to the people who are still using studio ai so they know we've renamed the command to code: ⓘ The studio ai command is now studio code.

I also want to change the command descriptions for code and mcp, to use the word "Agent" instead of "Assistant".

Here's my proposal:

• code -> "AI agent for building WordPress"
• mcp -> "MCP server for AI agents"

[sejas]

On it!

[wpmobilebot]

📊 Performance Test Results

Comparing 5e295a9 vs trunk

app-size

Metric	trunk	5e295a9	Diff	Change
App Size (Mac)	1252.12 MB	1252.07 MB	0.05 MB	⚪ 0.0%

site-editor

Metric	trunk	5e295a9	Diff	Change
load	1907 ms	1864 ms	43 ms	⚪ 0.0%

site-startup

Metric	trunk	5e295a9	Diff	Change
siteCreation	9135 ms	9151 ms	+16 ms	⚪ 0.0%
siteStartup	4948 ms	4942 ms	6 ms	⚪ 0.0%

---

Results are median values from multiple test runs.

Legend: 🟢 Improvement (faster) | 🔴 Regression (slower) | ⚪ No change (<50ms diff)

[sejas]

@sejas is it possible to remove the [aliases: ai] from the command list? If so, please remove it. We are keeping the ai command available only to maintain backward compatibility, but there's no need to surface it in the command list.

It'd also be nice to display a message to the people who are still using studio ai so they know we've renamed the command to code: ⓘ The studio ai command is now studio code.

I also want to change the command descriptions for code and mcp, to use the word "Agent" instead of "Assistant".

Here's my proposal:

• code -> "AI agent for building WordPress"
• mcp -> "MCP server for AI agents"

@Poliuk, Done! now studio ai is a hidden command that doesn't appear in --help menu. We also display a "notice" when running studio ai.

studio ai	studio code

I also considered adding the same notice when running studio ai --help and other subcommands but it added much more complexity to the code and I think it was not necessary. We could even remove this alias in the future.

[sejas]

It's worth mentioning I also changed the Agent identity to say "WordPress Studio Code" which is an "AI agent":

studio/apps/cli/ai/system-prompt.ts

Line 7 in 5e295a9

const AGENT_IDENTITY = `You are WordPress Studio Code, the AI agent built into WordPress Studio CLI. Your name is "WordPress Studio Code".`;