This year is undoubtedly the most competitive year for AI programming tools.
Originally thought that the competition between Claude Code and Codex had entered a white-hot stage. Unexpectedly, Musk's Grok also entered the game strongly. The release of Grok 4.5 once again set off a new round of competition.
From AI programming assistants to terminal Agent tools, the entire industry is undergoing a reshuffle.
In the past, the field of AI programming mainly focused on the three major models: GPT, Claude, and Gemini. Now Grok's rapid catch-up has brought new changes to the market landscape.
Grok Build had previously experienced controversy related to code uploading, but officials responded quickly and promoted open source for the project. As transparency improves, more and more developers are trying and using Grok Build.
This article mainly shares the installation process and preliminary experience of Grok Build, hoping to help everyone get started quickly.
Due to the limited length of the article and the limited number of pictures, the content will be divided into multiple parts and released, and more usage techniques will continue to be shared in the future.
Grok Build installation
Currently, the main CLI tool officially provided by Grok is Grok Build.
In addition, you can also experience Grok capabilities in Cursor, API services, transit platforms and other AI Agent tools. I will compile a separate detailed introduction in the future.
Grok Build official address:
one-click installation
The official installation script is provided, and the installation can be completed directly by using the following command:
curl -fsSL https://x.ai/cli/install.sh | bash
After installation is complete, you can check the version using the following command:
grok -v
Or:
grok version
If you need to upgrade the version, you can perform:
grok update
How to start Grok Build
The usage logic of Grok Build is basically the same as Claude Code CLI and Codex CLI. They are both AI Agent tools for terminal environments.
If you have used similar products before, the cost of getting started will be very low.
Launch Grok Build:
grok
Or:
agent
When it is first launched, Grok will automatically open the browser for account verification.
If you don't have an account yet, you can go to register:
How to use API Key
In addition to web login authentication, Grok Build can also be used through API Key.
Set environment variables:
export XAI_API_KEY="xai-..."
The Grok service can be called after configuration is complete.
In addition, X Premium users will receive Grok rights, and Premium+ users will also include SuperGrok rights.
You can directly log in to the corresponding X account to use it.
Login and Sign Out
Grok Build provides two ways to manage account status.
Use the command:
Login:
/login
Exit:
/logout
You can also use CLI commands directly:
grok login
Exit:
grok logout