GAIA can be run from the IRAF command language, cl (see SG/12[15] for an introduction to IRAF on Starlink systems). However, before this option is available the GAIA package must have been included in the version of IRAF that you are using. This customisation will usually already have been performed if you are using IRAF at a Starlink site.
Assuming that the IRAF GAIA package is available, your first step must be to initialise it. From the IRAF cl type:
cl> gaia
(Alternatively, if you think that you will often want to use GAIA from within IRAF, then you could include this step in your IRAF login.cl file.)
To display an image type:
cl> gaiadisp image plane-number
image is the image to be displayed and plane-number is the number of the IRAF display plane in which the image is to appear (which is identical to the GAIA clone number). For example:
cl> gaiadisp dev$pix.imh 1
will display the default IRAF image in display plane 1. The image will
either be displayed into an existing GAIA window, or a new window will
be created, as required. Note that because GAIA is not a native IRAF
image display task it does not support any of the IRAF cursor commands.
The GAIA Cookbook