[v1.5.0]: Buckets API, Agent-first CLI, Spaces Hot-Reload and more

This release introduces major new features including Buckets (xet-based large scale object storage), CLI Extensions, Space Hot-Reload, and significant improvements for AI coding agents. The CLI has been completely overhauled with centralized error handling, better help output, and new commands for collections, papers, and more.

🪣 Buckets: S3-like Object Storage on the Hub

Buckets provide S3-like object storage on Hugging Face, powered by the Xet storage backend. Unlike repositories (which are git-based and track file history), buckets are remote object storage containers designed for large-scale files with content-addressable deduplication. Use them for training checkpoints, logs, intermediate artifacts, or any large collection of files that doesn't need version control.

# Create a bucket
hf buckets create my-bucket --private
Upload a directory
hf buckets sync ./data hf://buckets/username/my-bucket
Download from bucket
hf buckets sync hf://buckets/username/my-bucket ./data
List files
hf buckets list username/my-bucket -R --tree

The Buckets API includes full CLI and Python support for creating, listing, moving, and deleting buckets; uploading, downloading, and syncing files; and managing bucket contents with include/exclude patterns.

• Buckets API and CLI by @​Wauplin in #3673
• Support bucket rename/move in API + CLI by @​Wauplin in #3843
• Add 'sync_bucket' to HfApi by @​Wauplin in #3845
• hf buckets file deletion by @​Wauplin in #3849
• Update message when no buckets found by @​Wauplin in #3850
• Buckets doc hf install by @​julien-c in #3846

📚 Documentation: Buckets guide

🤖 AI Agent Support

This release includes several features designed to improve the experience for AI coding agents (Claude Code, OpenCode, Cursor, etc.):

• Centralized CLI error handling: Clean user-facing messages without tracebacks (set HF_DEBUG=1 for full traces) by @​hanouticelina in #3754
• Token-efficient skill: The hf skills add command now installs a compact skill (~1.2k tokens vs ~12k before) by @​hanouticelina in #3802
• Agent-friendly hf jobs logs: Prints available logs and exits by default; use -f to stream by @​davanstrien in #3783
• Add AGENTS.md: Dev setup and codebase guide for AI agents by @​Wauplin in #3789

# Install the hf-cli skill for Claude
hf skills add --claude
Install for project-level
hf skills add --project