Grok CLI on Smart Pi One¶

Grok CLI is xAI's official Grok command-line assistant, packaged by YUMI-LAB to run on the 32-bit ARM (Allwinner H3 / armv7l) Smart Pi One and Smart Pad — hardware the standard installer normally rejects as unsupported.

Repository: github.com/Yumi-Lab/grok-cli-smartpi

1. How it works¶

The official Grok CLI is a static Rust binary built for 64-bit ARM. This project runs it through user-mode QEMU emulation (QEMU 7.2 from Debian bookworm, vendored with the installer — the last version that can emulate a 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host). A wrapper manages CPU affinity across the cores, and the TUI is rebuilt on top of the headless streaming mode for reliability. Startup on the board is around ~1.3 seconds.

2. Requirements¶

armv7l / 32-bit ARM CPU (Allwinner H3)
At least 1 GB RAM recommended
A Debian-based Linux distribution (tested on the Smart Pad — 4× Cortex-A7 @ 1.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Debian 13)
A grok.com / SuperGrok account (no API key needed)

3. Installation¶

Run the one-line installer on your Smart Pi One:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Yumi-Lab/grok-cli-smartpi/main/install.sh | bash

The installer downloads the official Grok binary from xAI at install time, alongside the vendored QEMU runtime.

4. Authentication¶

Grok CLI signs in with your grok.com / SuperGrok account through a device-flow authorization — no API key required, and no browser needed on the board itself.

grok login --device-auth

The CLI displays an accounts.x.ai URL and a verification code. Open the URL on any machine, enter the code to approve access, and the CLI detects the authorization automatically.

5. Usage¶

Command	Purpose
`grok`	Interactive full interface with menu navigation and live streaming
`grok -p "your question"`	Single-shot answer, with agent mode enabled
`grok-live -p "your task"`	Streaming output with visible reasoning
`grok-chat`	Minimal conversation REPL
`grok models`	Show your account and available model information

In agent mode, Grok CLI can read and edit files and run commands on the board — useful for scripting the GPIO sensors, configuring services, or working through Smart Pi projects.

Example Grok CLI session on a Smart Pi One Example session (illustration).

6. Notes¶

Because Grok runs under emulation, generation is slower than native — expect roughly ~40 seconds for a response on reference hardware, with the CPU peaking near 78 °C under restricted core allocation.
CPU allocation is configurable with the GROK_CPUS environment variable to balance speed against heat and system responsiveness.
Licensing: the installer scripts are MIT; the vendored QEMU is GPL-2.0; the official Grok binary is downloaded from xAI at install time and remains subject to xAI's terms.