Hi. Sorry if this sounds pedantic, it's not meant to be... On the Automation API Guide (https://www.pulumi.com/docs/guides/automation-api/) the first sentence says:

The Pulumi Automation API is a programmatic interface for running Pulumi programs without the Pulumi CLI.

When you then go to the Getting Started with Automation API (https://www.pulumi.com/docs/guides/automation-api/getting-started-automation-api/), the first step is to install the Pulumi CLI, which would appear like the CLI is required. Is the CLI only required in order to get an access token or is it required by the Automation API functionality?

it uses the cli (theres a note about it further down the page), but it allows you to automate the use of the cli and not have to use it yourself directly. we would love your contribution if you'd like to propose edits to that page. https://github.com/pulumi/pulumi-hugo/edit/master/themes/default/content/docs/guides/automation-api/_index.md

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Ok, I'll take a look and see if I can make any proposals 🙂