> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.entire.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Inspect Checkpoints in CLI

> List, explain, and measure checkpoints from a terminal.

Use the Entire CLI when you want to work from a terminal, explain a checkpoint or commit, read transcript output, compare token usage, or export checkpoint data as JSON.

## Find a Checkpoint

List checkpoints on the current branch:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint list
```

Add `--json` for a machine-readable listing, or `--session ID` to narrow the list to one session.

When you do not know which checkpoint you want, search by phrase, meaning, or context:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint search "what changed"
```

## Explain a Checkpoint or Commit

Explain a checkpoint by ID, or by an unambiguous prefix of one:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint explain CHECKPOINT_ID
```

A commit-ish works too, and resolves through the commit's `Entire-Checkpoint` trailer:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint explain HEAD~3
```

Add `--full` for the whole parsed transcript, `--raw-transcript` for the JSONL file, or `--short` for the summary alone.

## Generate a Summary

Generate an AI summary for the checkpoint:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint explain CHECKPOINT_ID --generate
```

The `--generate` flag requires the configured provider CLI to be installed and authenticated.

## Measure Token Usage

Report token usage and optimization recommendations for a checkpoint:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint tokens CHECKPOINT_ID
```

The report names the checkpoint, the sessions and agents behind it, the models they used, and the branch, followed by the usage breakdown and the recommendations drawn from it. It reads committed checkpoint metadata through the same resolution path as `entire checkpoint explain`, so an ID prefix or a commit-ish works here as well, and metadata missing locally is fetched from the checkpoint remote.

Compare a checkpoint against an earlier one to see how usage moved:

```bash theme={null}
entire checkpoint tokens CHECKPOINT_ID --compare BASELINE_ID
```

The comparison reports total tokens, input, cache and context replay, cache write, output, and API calls as a delta against the baseline, and qualifies whether the change counts as an observed reduction or increase.

| Flag            | Description                                   |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| `--json`        | Output the full report as JSON                |
| `--compare ID`  | Compare against a baseline checkpoint         |
| `--agent-brief` | Print compact next-step guidance for an agent |

`--json` and `--agent-brief` are mutually exclusive.

## Continue With

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Inspect in entire.io" icon="browser" href="/guides/checkpoints/inspect-in-entire-io">
    Open checkpoint details, sessions, and file diffs visually.
  </Card>

  <Card title="checkpoint" icon="terminal" href="/cli-reference/checkpoint">
    See the full checkpoint command reference.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>