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CLI Reference

RAC ships a single command, rac, with twenty-two subcommands. This page documents each one: its purpose, inputs, outputs, and exit codes.

rac <command> [arguments] [options]
rac --version
rac <command> --help

Conventions

These apply across every command.

  • --json — most commands accept --json to emit machine-readable output instead of the human-readable report. JSON output is a stable contract intended for tools, IDEs, CI, and agents.
  • Standard input — validate, inspect, and improve accept - in place of a file to read Markdown from stdin (e.g. cat file.md | rac validate -).
  • Recursion — directory commands (validate, stats, inspect, relationships, review, portfolio, index, explorer) recurse into subdirectories by default. Pass --top-level to scan only the immediate directory. --recursive is accepted explicitly for clarity but is already the default.
  • Exit codes — every command follows the same convention:
Code Meaning
0 Success
1 Validation or relationship check failed
2 Usage or I/O error (bad arguments, file not found, not a directory)

validate

Validate an artifact — or every artifact in a directory — for structural and content issues.

  • Input: rac validate <path> — a Markdown file, a directory, or - for stdin.
  • Options: --json · --top-level · --recursive (directory mode) · --corpus DIR (stdin / single-file mode — see below)
  • Exit codes: 0 no errors · 1 validation errors · 2 path not found / unreadable
rac validate login-flow.md

PASS  login-flow.md
  warning [missing-risks] login-flow.md
          No ## Risks section (optional, but recommended).

0 error(s), 1 warning(s).

Warnings do not fail the run; only errors return exit 1. Use --json for the structured form (valid, errors[], warnings[] with stable code fields).

Given a directory, validate classifies every *.md file and validates each against its own artifact schema:

rac validate rac/

PASS  rac/ — 66 artifact(s) checked: 66 valid, 24 skipped (unknown type).

Files that match no known schema are skipped, not failed — being a plain document is a valid outcome (see ADR-010). Only validation errors in recognized artifacts fail the run. The --json form reports summary counts plus a per-file files[] list with status (valid / invalid / skipped) and issues.

Corpus-aware single-document validation (--corpus)

Plain rac validate - is single-document: it cannot resolve cross-artifact references, so it cannot tell that a proposed edit introduces a reference to a decision the team has retired. Pass --corpus DIR (with stdin - or a single file) to validate the proposed document and resolve its outbound references against the live corpus at DIR:

cat proposed-roadmap.md | rac validate - --corpus rac/

FAIL  -

Corpus references
  Related Decisions:
  ✗ adr-014-legacy-auth superseded

0 error(s), 0 warning(s), 1 corpus reference finding(s).
  • Input: the proposed document on stdin (-) or a single file; --corpus points at the corpus directory.
  • What it checks: the document's own structural validation (exactly as without --corpus), plus the document's references resolved against the corpus — references to retired (superseded/deprecated) or missing decisions, and other reference findings (wrong target type, etc.). Only the proposed document's own outbound references are reported; pre-existing corpus findings are not.
  • Exit codes: 0 clean · 1 any structural error or any corpus reference finding · 2 usage (--corpus with a directory target, or a --corpus path that is not a directory).
  • Editing an existing artifact: when the proposed document carries the same canonical identity as an on-disk artifact (its frontmatter id or ## ID), that on-disk counterpart is excluded from the corpus index, so the edit is validated as a replacement — no spurious duplicate-identity or self-reference finding. A stdin document identified only by path (-) does not collide and is validated against the whole corpus as-is.

This is the engine seam the generated Claude Code pre-edit hook pipes proposed content into; see Agent integration. Validation stays in rac — the hook computes nothing (ADR-067, ADR-063).

diff

Compare two versions of a requirement file and report what changed.

  • Input: rac diff <old> <new> — two Markdown files.
  • Options: --json
  • Exit codes: 0 success · 2 file not found / unreadable
rac diff examples/example_dashboard_v1.md examples/example_dashboard_v2.md

Added Requirements

+ REQ-004 User can schedule a weekly usage summary email

Removed Requirements

- REQ-003 User can export the current chart as a CSV file

Modified Requirements

~ REQ-002
  Before: User can filter usage charts by date range
  After:  User can filter usage charts by date range and by team

stats

Summarize a directory of artifacts: counts, quality signals, and per-type breakdowns.

  • Input: rac stats <directory> — scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --json
  • Exit codes: 0 analyzable content found, or an empty corpus (day-one is not a failure) · 1 files exist but none are valid known artifacts · 2 not a directory

On an empty corpus, stats (like validate, review, and portfolio) exits 0 and prints a next-step line pointing at rac quickstart. The summary JSON carries an additive empty boolean.

rac stats rac/

Reports feature/requirement/decision/roadmap/design counts, missing recommended sections, and a list of files that matched no schema (not errors — see ADR-010).

ingest

Convert a document (DOCX, PDF, HTML, PPTX, XLSX, or Markdown) into RAC-compatible Markdown.

  • Input: rac ingest <file> — the source document.
  • Options: -o, --output <path> (write to a file; errors if it exists unless --force) · --stdout (explicit stdout, the default) · --force · --json
  • Exit codes: 0 success · 1 conversion failed · 2 unsupported type / file not found / output exists without --force
rac ingest spec.docx                 # preview Markdown on stdout
rac ingest spec.docx -o spec.md      # write to a file
rac ingest report.pdf -o report.md --force

Conversion uses optional extras. Install the readers you need: pip install 'requirements-as-code[ingest]' (DOCX/HTML), [ingest-pdf], [ingest-office] (PPTX/XLSX), or [ingest-all].

inspect

Identify a document's artifact type and which sections are present or missing. Works on a single file or a whole directory.

  • Input: rac inspect <file|directory> — or - for stdin (single file only).
  • Options: --json · --verbose (classification breakdown and score, single file only) · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 (a completed inspection always succeeds — Unknown is a valid result)
rac inspect login-flow.md
rac inspect . --json            # aggregate type counts for a directory

Artifact Type: Requirement
Confidence: 71%

Present Sections:
  ✓ Problem
  ✓ Requirements
  ✓ Success Metrics

Missing Sections:
  ✗ Risks
  ✗ Assumptions

improve

Suggest the sections an artifact is missing, optionally as ready-to-paste templates.

  • Input: rac improve <file> — or - for stdin.
  • Options: --json or --template (mutually exclusive)
  • Exit codes: 0 (suggestions are advice, not failure)
rac improve login-flow.md             # list missing sections
rac improve login-flow.md --template  # emit Markdown stubs to paste in

schema

Show registered artifact schemas and starter templates.

  • Input: rac schema [name] — requirement, decision, roadmap, prompt, or design.
  • Options: --list (list all schema names) · --json or --template (mutually exclusive) · --list cannot be combined with a schema name
  • Exit codes: 0 success · 2 unknown schema name or flag misuse
rac schema --list                  # the five artifact types
rac schema requirement             # required / recommended / optional sections
rac schema decision --template     # starter Markdown for a decision
rac schema roadmap --json          # machine-readable schema

relationships

Inspect — and optionally validate — explicit references between artifacts in a file or directory.

  • Input: rac relationships <path> — a directory or a single Markdown file.
  • Options: --validate (resolve every reference; exit 1 on any broken, ambiguous, self-referencing, or duplicate-identifier finding) · --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 relationships found / all references valid · 1 validation issues · 2 path not found
rac relationships rac/              # list the references RAC discovered
rac relationships rac/ --validate   # check that every reference resolves

Finding no relationships is not an error. See relationships.md for the issue codes --validate reports.

rename

Safely rename an artifact id across the whole corpus. Renaming an id by hand corrupts links — every inbound reference to the old id silently dangles. rac rename computes the corpus-wide edit set deterministically and reversibly, so the references and the artifact's own identity move together. The engine owns the edit set; editors and other clients preview and invoke it, never computing references themselves (ADR-063).

  • Input: rac rename <old-id> <new-id> <directory> — the existing id (or one of its aliases), the new human id (e.g. ADR-099), and the corpus to scan.
  • Options: --apply (write the edits; default is a dry-run preview) · --json (the stable plan/result contract, ADR-007) · --top-level
  • Exit codes: 0 a valid plan was previewed (dry run) or applied · 1 the rename was refused (old-id not found or ambiguous, new-id invalid or colliding, or old-id is only a filename-derived alias) — nothing is written · 2 not a directory
rac rename ADR-001 ADR-099 rac/            # dry run — preview the edit set
rac rename ADR-001 ADR-099 rac/ --apply    # apply it; references + identity move together
rac rename ADR-001 ADR-099 rac/ --json     # the plan as a stable dict

What it rewrites. Two things, deterministically:

  1. Inbound references — every ## Related X / ## Supersedes list line whose reference token equals old-id. Only the token is replaced; surrounding text is preserved verbatim, so - ADR-001 (blocked) becomes - ADR-099 (blocked) (the raw reference text is the source of truth, ADR-016). A line that names a different alias of the same target is left untouched — the rename operates on the old-id token specifically.
  2. The target's own identity — the one declared, editable identity field that equals old-id: the canonical frontmatter id, a ## ID section value, or the type's declared id section. The file is not renamed and the canonical frontmatter id is changed only when old-id is that value.

When it refuses. If old-id resolves only through a filename-derived alias (the filename prefix or stem) there is no in-file token to rewrite without renaming the file, which is out of scope — so the rename refuses rather than leave new-id dangling. It also refuses an old-id that is unknown or ambiguous, and a new-id that is malformed or already names another artifact (which would create a duplicate identity). Every refusal leaves the corpus untouched and exits 1.

Guarantees.

  • Deterministic — the same inputs produce a byte-identical plan; edits are ordered by path then line (ADR-002).
  • Reversible — applying rename <new> <old> after a rename restores the original bytes. No semantic inference happens anywhere.
  • Clean afterwards — after --apply, rac relationships <dir> --validate is clean: every inbound reference resolves to the renamed artifact.

The --json plan is { ok, reason, old_ref, new_ref, target_path, identity_field, files_changed, reference_edits, identity_edits, edits[] }, where each edit is { path, line, old_line, new_line, kind } (kind is "reference" or "identity"). On refusal, ok is false and reason is one of the stable codes old-ref-not-found, old-ref-ambiguous, new-ref-invalid, new-ref-collides, old-ref-filename-only. The --apply result is { applied, old_ref, new_ref, target_path, files_changed, reference_edits, identity_edits }.

In the editor, RAC: Rename artifact id runs this dry run, shows the affected files and lines as a preview, and on confirm applies it — the extension previews and invokes the engine plan, it never computes references (ADR-063). The add relationship code action inserts a resolvable reference into the right ## Related X section, and the missing-section quick-fix bodies are sourced from rac schema <type> so they cannot drift from the canonical schema.

review

Review an entire repository in one command: validate every artifact, check every relationship, and report what needs attention — worst problems first.

  • Input: rac review <directory> — scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --json · --top-level · --recursive · --stale-after [DAYS]
  • Exit codes: 0 no blocking issues · 1 invalid artifacts or broken relationships found · 2 not a directory
rac review rac/
rac review rac/ --stale-after        # nudge if nothing written in 14 days
rac review rac/ --stale-after 30     # custom window

--stale-after [DAYS] adds an advisory write-cadence finding when no artifact has been committed within the window (default 14 days when the flag is given without a value). It is informational and never changes the exit code, so it is safe in CI; it needs git history and is silent outside a git repository or on an empty corpus. The framing is capture cadence, not work tracking (ADR-017).

Repository Review
=================

Directory:  rac/
Artifacts:  90

  Requirement    19
  Decision       27
  Roadmap        11
  Design         9
  Unknown        24

Validation
----------

  Valid:    66
  Invalid:  0
...

Findings are grouped by priority, highest impact first:

Priority Finding Blocks (exit 1)
1 Invalid artifacts (validation errors) yes
2 Broken relationships (unresolvable references) yes
3 Unrecognized artifacts (no schema matched) no — advisory
4 Missing recommended information no — advisory

Every finding carries a concrete suggested action (rac validate <file>, rac relationships <dir> --validate, rac improve <file> --template, …) and an impact sentence explaining why it matters (additive in v0.8.11), and the report ends with the same health score portfolio computes. The --json form is a stable contract (schema_version: "1") with ok, artifacts, validation, relationships, health, issues[] (each with priority, severity, path, identifier, code, message, action, impact), and actions[].

review composes the same analysis portfolio runs; use portfolio for a one-screen summary and review when you want the prioritized worklist.

gate

Enforce a corpus in one command: run validation, relationships, and review, then classify every finding as blocking or advisory under the corpus enforcement policy. The single enforcement entry point — one exit code, one SARIF document — used by the PR-gate Action.

  • Input: rac gate <directory> — scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --json · --sarif (mutually exclusive) · --top-level
  • Exit codes: 0 nothing blocking · 1 a blocking finding (or malformed .rac/config.yaml) · 2 not a directory
rac gate rac/                # human summary
rac gate rac/ --json         # stable JSON contract (schema_version "1")
rac gate rac/ --sarif        # one SARIF 2.1.0 document over all findings

Which findings block versus merely annotate is governed by an optional enforcement: section in .rac/config.yaml (blocking / advisory / off lists of finding codes). With no policy, the gate's verdict is exactly validate ∧ relationships ∧ review. The --json envelope carries ok, blocking_count, advisory_count, and findings[] (each with source, code, severity, enforcement, path, line, message); --sarif emits one combined document for GitHub Code Scanning. See Governance for the policy shape and fleet-readiness guidance.

watchkeeper

Review product knowledge changes between two repository states: what was added, modified, or removed, and how validation, relationships, and repository statistics moved. review answers "what needs attention now?"; watchkeeper answers "what changed, and how did it move the repository?".

  • Input: rac watchkeeper [directory] — the corpus to compare (default: rac/ when present, else the current directory). The working tree is the head state.
  • Options: --base REF (default main) · --head REF · --format human|json|github · --json (alias for --format json) · --fail-on error|warning|none (default error) · --no-annotate
  • Exit codes: 0 nothing requiring attention under the chosen policy (always, with --fail-on none) · 1 review recommended (--fail-on error) or any warning finding (--fail-on warning) · 2 not a directory, unknown revision, or not inside a git repository

--base and --head each accept a git revision (main, origin/some-branch, a commit SHA) or an existing directory path — directories are compared as-is, with no git involved. Revisions are materialized read-only via git archive (ADR-043): nothing mutates your repository, and only the corpus subpath is extracted.

rac watchkeeper rac --base main

RAC Watchkeeper
===============

Directory:  rac
Comparing:  main → rac

Changed Artifacts
-----------------

  + requirements/billing.md  (requirement)
  ~ requirements/checkout.md  (requirement)
  - requirements/legacy-upload.md  (requirement)

Validation
----------

  Valid:    5 → 4
  Invalid:  0 → 1

  Newly invalid:
    ✗ requirements/payouts.md

Relationships
-------------

  Total:    3 → 3
  Broken:   0 → 1

  New issues:
    ! decisions/adr-001-payment-provider.md — Related Requirements reference 'legacy-upload' (relationship-target-not-found)

Repository Changes
------------------

  Requirement    3 → 3
  Total          5 → 5

Artifacts are matched by corpus-relative path, so a renamed artifact reports as removed plus added. A base revision that predates the corpus directory compares against an empty base — a brand-new corpus is a valid "everything added" review.

The report ends with deterministic intent findings (v0.12.1) — changes that reduce product clarity, flagged for human attention without judging correctness:

Code Fires when Severity
specificity_regression a measurable requirement loses its numbers warning
ambiguity_introduced an ambiguous term (easy, intuitive, simple, seamless, user-friendly, scalable, fast, quickly, robust, flexible) newly appears in a requirement warning
constraint_weakened mandatory wording (must, shall) becomes hedged (should, may, could) warning
constraint_removed a requirement with mandatory wording is removed warning
acceptance_criteria_removed a filled Acceptance Criteria section disappears or empties warning
success_measures_removed a filled Success Measures/Metrics section disappears or empties warning
unlinked_scope a new artifact declares no relationships and nothing references it warning
relationship_impact a modified or removed artifact is referenced by others info

Every check is token-boundary, casefolded, and explainable: each finding carries a one-sentence detail and the triggering text as diff-style evidence.

Findings (2)
--------

  ! [specificity_regression] requirements/checkout.md
      Measurable requirement REQ-001 became vague.
      - Payment confirmation must complete within 2 seconds
      + Payment confirmation should complete quickly

  · [relationship_impact] requirements/checkout.md
      Modified artifact is referenced by 1 artifact(s).
      adr-001

The report ends with a deterministic review verdict (v0.12.2). Review is recommended when artifacts become invalid, relationship references break, or a clarity-regression finding fires (specificity_regression, constraint_weakened, constraint_removed, acceptance_criteria_removed, success_measures_removed). Ambiguity, unlinked scope, and relationship impact inform but never recommend on their own. --fail-on turns the verdict into CI policy: error (default) fails when review is recommended, warning also fails on any warning finding, none never fails but still prints the full report.

--format github renders for GitHub workflows with no GitHub API dependency: stdout is a Markdown report for $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY (change table, delta tables, findings, verdict); stderr carries workflow-command annotations (::error for recommendation triggers, ::warning / ::notice for the rest) with repository-relative file paths, which the runner turns into inline annotations. --no-annotate suppresses the stderr stream:

rac watchkeeper rac --base "origin/$GITHUB_BASE_REF" --format github > "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"

The --json form is a stable contract (schema_version: "1") with base, head, directory, changes[] (each with change, type, id, title, path, base_status, head_status, and a requirement-level diff for modified artifacts), validation (per-side counts plus newly_invalid / newly_valid), relationships (per-side summaries plus new_issues / resolved_issues), stats (per-type and total counts for both sides), findings[] (each with code, severity, path, identifier, detail, evidence; additive in v0.12.1), and review (recommended plus reasons[] with code and reason; additive in v0.12.2).

To run Watchkeeper on pull requests with the bundled GitHub Action and reusable workflow, see watchkeeper.md.

portfolio

A one-screen repository intelligence summary: artifact counts by type, validity, completeness, relationship coverage, an attention list, and a health score.

  • Input: rac portfolio <directory> — scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 success · 2 not a directory
rac portfolio rac/

index

Produce a flat inventory of every artifact — id, type, title, and path — so other tools can build navigation without re-scanning files.

  • Input: rac index [directory] — defaults to the current directory; scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 success · 2 not a directory
rac index rac/
rac index rac/ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "directory": "rac/requirements/",
  "recursive": true,
  "artifact_count": 4,
  "artifacts": [
    {
      "id": "rac-documentation-structure",
      "type": "unknown",
      "title": "REQ-Documentation-Structure",
      "path": "rac/requirements/rac-documentation-structure.md"
    }
  ]
}

explorer

Launch the interactive terminal Explorer — browse every artifact, read it in full, assess repository health, and reach anything through the / command palette, without memorizing RAC commands. One persistent workspace frame: a navigation sidebar of type-tagged artifacts on the left, a context panel that swaps views on the right, and a status line of key hints with the health chip — under the rac-lantern theme by default. Pressing / summons the palette (v0.8.8): an input with a live, navigable suggestion menu below it. The workspace is live (v0.8.9): Explorer watches the repository and reloads itself when artifacts change on disk.

Explorer is a presentation layer over the same services the CLI uses: everything it shows is also available through rac portfolio, rac index, rac resolve, rac find, and friends (ADR-015). It never edits artifacts (ADR-024).

  • Input: rac explorer [directory] — defaults to rac/ when present (ADR-018), else the current directory; scanned recursively for *.md.
  • Options: --top-level · --recursive (no --json: the surface is interactive)
  • Keys: / summons the command palette from anywhere · ↑ ↓ navigate · Enter select · Tab cycle panels · Esc back (palette → dismiss; context → view history; otherwise → home) · h health · r reload · f filter results by type · ? help · q quit. Single-letter shortcuts are suspended while you type in the palette.
  • Palette (/): empty input offers the artifacts you opened most recently in this repository (Enter reopens one) above the full command list; a command prefix filters them (Enter completes argument-taking commands into the input); any other text shows live artifact matches — Enter quick-opens the highlighted one — plus a "search all results" row. Commands: open <ref> · find <query> [type] · browse [type] · health · stats · recommendations · new <type> <path> · import <source> [target] · relationships <ref> · resume · schema [type] · settings · home · help · quit — anything else is a search, resolved with rac resolve / rac find semantics. Full results render in the context panel (the layout never jumps), where f narrows artifact results by type — all → each type present → all. /browse <type> lists that type in the results panel in every grouping mode; bare /browse focuses the sidebar. /schema lists the registered artifact types; /schema decision renders the type's expected sections, the same facts rac schema reports.
  • Sidebar: every artifact under "Artifacts", mirroring the repository's directory structure by default — directories as collapsible nodes (name with a trailing / and an artifact count), nested exactly as on disk. The artifact_grouping setting cycles folders | type | flat. Rows carry a colour-coded type tag (REQ ADR RMP PRM DSG) beside the title, invalid artifacts are marked ✗, and the highlighted artifact's status chip shows in the panel border. e opens the highlighted artifact in your editor. Expansion and cursor survive reloads — nested directories included — and opening an artifact reveals it along its filesystem path; the sidebar hides below 80 columns.
  • Artifact context: opening an artifact shows four tabs — Content (the document's rendered Markdown, read-only — the default; it takes the keyboard, scrolls with j/k/PgUp/PgDn, and artifact references inside the text open in place, so the corpus reads like a wiki), Inspection (status, completeness, and the artifact's validation diagnostics — the same issues rac validate reports), Links (the knowledge graph as text — a dependency chain to what the artifact relates to, an Impact Analysis block naming what a change may affect, and a lineage chain; connected artifacts open on Enter, so the graph traverses one hop at a time and Esc unwinds), and Findings (the artifact's recommendations, plus an Improvement group from the improve service — one suggestion per missing section, with the schema's guidance question as the action). Inspection, Links, and Findings carry count badges; g jumps to Links; ←/→ switch tabs.
  • Health: h or /health opens the health view — Core's score with a text label, the Completeness / Relationships / Validation / Coverage areas, and a prioritized attention list whose items open the affected artifact on its Inspection tab, where the diagnostics explain the finding.
  • Recommendations: /recommendations (or r from the health view) presents Core's review findings grouped by category (Validation, Relationships, Repository Health, Quality), each with its impact, a suggested rac command, and navigation to the affected artifact's Findings tab. Advisory only — Explorer applies nothing. x exports them to a Markdown file (preview, then confirm).
  • Actions: e opens the current artifact in your editor — the editor setting, then $VISUAL / $EDITOR; terminal editors (vim, nvim, emacs, nano, …) run with the Explorer suspended and resume it on exit; guidance is shown when nothing is configured (Explorer never edits, ADR-024). /import <source> [target] converts a document via the ingest service, previews the Markdown, and writes it only after you confirm with y (never overwriting). Long conversions report progress. /new <type> <path> starts an artifact from its canonical template: the preview shows the sections with the ID noted as assigned on write, y confirms, and the write goes through the same Core service as rac new — the ID is minted against the repository index, existing files refuse, missing directories refuse, and an uninitialized repository points you at rac init. On success the Explorer reloads and opens the new artifact, ready for e; bare /new lists the creatable types.
  • Stats: /stats opens a portfolio dashboard — per-type counts with validity, requirement/metric/risk totals, decision status and category breakdowns, and relationship counts — the same facts rac stats reports, collected off the UI thread on request.
  • Live reload: Explorer compares the corpus files on disk every two seconds (paths and mtimes only — no parsing) and reloads when something changed: the sidebar keeps its expansion and cursor, the open artifact keeps its tab and scroll position, and the health chip updates. The watcher holds while a terminal editor owns the screen and rescans the moment Explorer resumes, so a saved edit shows immediately; an open artifact that disappears falls back home. r still reloads on demand.
  • First run: onboarding derives from repository content (existing, empty, or invalid repository) and is skipped for returning users; a lantern-carrying mascot animates in the welcome, empty, and loading states (static with animations = off, hidden with mascot = off — no information is lost). Selecting the mascot (a click, or keyboard focus then Enter) returns a small response inline — an acknowledgement, an occasional reminder, gentle guidance toward existing commands, and one rare line — with no popup and nothing hidden behind it; turn it off independently with mascot_interaction = off. One optional editor step follows the welcome: Enter accepts (an empty value keeps the $VISUAL/$EDITOR fallback), typing sets the editor preference, Esc skips — /settings can change it any time.
  • Settings & continuity: /settings changes everything in place — theme (default rac-lantern; Enter cycles every Textual theme with live preview), mascot, animations, mascot interaction, artifact grouping (folders default), and the editor command — persisted to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rac/explorer.json (no login, cloud, or sync). Explorer remembers recently opened repositories plus the last artifact and view per repository (under $XDG_STATE_HOME/rac/); . or /resume takes you back to where you were.
  • Exit codes: 0 session quit · 2 not a directory, or the explorer extra is not installed

The TUI dependency ships as an optional extra, so the core install stays light:

pip install 'requirements-as-code[explorer]'
rac explorer rac/

Without the extra, rac explorer prints the install hint above and exits 2.

mcp

Serve RAC repository knowledge to coding agents over MCP (stdio). The four read-only tools, client configuration, and team setup are documented in the MCP server guide.

rac mcp --root /path/to/repo
rac mcp --root /path/to/repo --telemetry
  • --root PATH — repository root to serve (default: current directory)
  • --telemetry — record tool-call counts and metadata (never arguments or content) to a local log under $XDG_STATE_HOME/rac/ (default ~/.local/state/rac/guide-telemetry.jsonl); off by default, announced on stderr when on
  • Exit codes: 0 server shutdown on client disconnect · 2 --root is not a directory

mcp-stats

Summarize the local Guide telemetry log: events, sessions, first and last timestamps, and per-tool calls, errors, truncation, and average duration. An empty or missing log is a valid answer — telemetry is opt-in and off by default.

rac mcp-stats           # human summary
rac mcp-stats --json    # the same summary as JSON (the shareable export)
rac mcp-stats --share   # prefilled GitHub usage-report issue URL

--share prints a URL that opens a prefilled usage-report issue containing only counts and timestamps; you review and submit it in your own browser — RAC sends nothing itself. --json and --share are mutually exclusive.

  • Exit codes: 0 summary produced (including from an empty or missing log) · 2 usage error

telemetry

Show or change anonymous usage-sharing consent (ADR-041). With consent on, rac mcp sends at most one anonymous daily ping — a random install id, the version, and an active-repo count; never paths, queries, or repository content. Sharing is independent of the local rac mcp --telemetry flag.

rac telemetry           # status (default): what is shared, and whether sending is possible
rac telemetry on        # opt in; mints a random install id
rac telemetry off       # opt out; nothing else changes

status also reports when the build has no endpoint key configured — in that state nothing is sent even with consent. Consent lives at ~/.config/rac/telemetry.json.

  • Exit codes: 0 consent shown or changed · 2 invalid action

new

Create a new artifact from its canonical bundled template, with a system-assigned opaque ID written as YAML frontmatter. The generated file uses the same structure the validators expect: edit the TODO placeholders and it passes rac validate.

  • Input: rac new <type> <output-path> — type is requirement, decision, roadmap, prompt, or design; the output path is taken literally (no filename derivation, no extension magic).
  • Options: --json
  • Exit codes: 0 created · 1 packaged template missing or malformed repository config · 2 unsupported type, output file already exists, output directory missing, or repository not initialized (run rac init first)

rac new never overwrites an existing file and never creates directories. The repository key comes from the nearest .rac/config.yaml (see init); the assigned ID is permanent — it survives renames, moves, and type changes.

rac init
rac new requirement rac/requirements/user-authentication.md
rac new decision rac/decisions/adr-029-example.md --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "created": true,
  "type": "decision",
  "path": "rac/decisions/adr-029-example.md",
  "id": "RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7"
}

A generated artifact begins with the canonical metadata envelope:

---
schema_version: 1
id: RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7
type: decision
---
# Title
...

templates

List the canonical artifact templates available to rac new. The set is the artifact spec registry itself — the same source that drives classification and validation.

  • Input: rac templates
  • Options: --json
  • Exit codes: 0 success
rac templates
rac templates --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "templates": ["requirement", "decision", "roadmap", "prompt", "design"]
}

init

Establish the repository identity namespace: a .rac/config.yaml holding the repository_key that prefixes every ID assigned by rac new. The key is configuration, not artifact meaning — it never dictates folder structure.

  • Input: rac init [directory] — defaults to the current directory.
  • Options: --key KEY (default RAC; 2–10 uppercase alphanumeric characters starting with a letter) · --json
  • Exit codes: 0 initialized, or already initialized with the same key (idempotent) · 1 a different key is already established (never silently rewritten) · 2 invalid key or not a directory

After a successful init on a real terminal, rac init asks one one-time question — "Share anonymous usage to help shape Lore? [y/N]" — defaulting to No. Either answer is persisted, so it is asked at most once per machine; it never appears with --json, in pipes, or in CI. See rac telemetry.

rac init
rac init --key PROJ
rac init docs/ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "repository_key": "PROJ",
  "config_path": ".rac/config.yaml",
  "created": true
}

quickstart

Guided first run: establish the repository identity and scaffold a first artifact in one step. It is rac init followed by rac new, collapsed into a single command, so a new user reaches a validatable artifact without assembling the sequence. It writes one starter artifact (the canonical template, with a system-assigned id) under rac/<family>/, and only into an empty corpus — a corpus that already holds an artifact is refused, untouched (ADR-044).

  • Input: rac quickstart [directory] — defaults to the current directory.
  • Options: --key KEY (default RAC) · --type TYPE (default requirement; any name from rac templates) · --json
  • Exit codes: 0 identity established and starter artifact created · 1 the corpus already has artifacts, or a different key is established (nothing written) · 2 invalid key, unknown type, or not a directory

Like rac init, on a real terminal it asks the one-time usage-sharing question (never with --json, in pipes, or in CI).

rac quickstart
rac quickstart --type decision
rac quickstart docs/ --key PROJ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "repository_key": "RAC",
  "config_path": "./.rac/config.yaml",
  "created": true,
  "artifact": {
    "type": "requirement",
    "path": "rac/requirements/first-requirement.md",
    "id": "RAC-..."
  }
}

resolve

Resolve an artifact ID to its type, title, and path. Matching is case-insensitive and covers canonical IDs and legacy aliases (## ID values, filename prefixes, stems), so lookups survive renames, moves, and identity migration.

  • Input: rac resolve <ID> [directory] — directory defaults to the current directory.
  • Options: --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 resolved · 1 not found, or duplicate ID (paths listed on stderr; never silently resolved by path order) · 2 not a directory
rac resolve RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7 rac/
rac resolve adr-015 rac/ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "id": "RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7",
  "type": "decision",
  "title": "Markdown Is the Canonical Source Format",
  "path": "rac/decisions/markdown-first.md"
}

find

Search artifacts by ID, title, filename, or path — a deterministic, case-insensitive substring match (no ranking heuristics). Results are ordered by match field (ID, then title, then filename/path) with sorted path as the tiebreak. An empty result is a valid outcome, not an error.

  • Input: rac find <query> [directory] — directory defaults to the current directory.
  • Options: --type TYPE (only match one artifact type) · --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 search completed (matches or none) · 2 not a directory
rac find markdown rac/
rac find explorer rac/ --type decision
rac find "canonical format" rac/ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "query": "markdown",
  "type": null,
  "match_count": 1,
  "matches": [
    {
      "id": "RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7",
      "type": "decision",
      "title": "Markdown Is the Canonical Source Format",
      "path": "rac/decisions/markdown-first.md"
    }
  ]
}

migrate

Bring existing artifacts onto canonical frontmatter identity. Every recognized artifact without a frontmatter block gains the canonical envelope (schema_version, a system-assigned ID, its classified type); the Markdown body is preserved byte-for-byte. Idempotent — re-running changes nothing, and a document repaired to classify is picked up by the next run.

  • Input: rac migrate metadata <directory> — requires an initialized repository (rac init).
  • Options: --dry-run (report without writing) · --json · --top-level · --recursive
  • Exit codes: 0 completed, including nothing to migrate · 1 malformed repository config or ID generation failure · 2 not a directory, or repository not initialized

Artifacts that already carry frontmatter — valid or broken — are never touched; documents that do not classify are listed, never guessed at.

rac migrate metadata rac/ --dry-run   # preview
rac migrate metadata rac/             # migrate
rac migrate metadata rac/ --json

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "directory": "rac/",
  "recursive": true,
  "dry_run": false,
  "summary": {
    "total_files": 95,
    "migrated": 28,
    "already_canonical": 67,
    "skipped_unknown": 0
  },
  "files": [
    {
      "path": "rac/decisions/adr-001-markdown-first.md",
      "status": "migrated",
      "id": "RAC-01JY4M8X2QZ7",
      "type": "decision"
    }
  ]
}

skill

Install or list the bundled Claude Code agent skills. Three skills are bundled: rac-artifacts (author and maintain artifacts), rac-review (corpus review and triage), and rac-ingest (legacy document conversion). Skill content ships with the distribution as package resources, so installation works from an installed wheel without this repository, network access, or AI involvement.

  • Input: rac skill install [name] — with no name, every bundled skill; with a name, exactly that skill. rac skill list — enumerate the bundle.
  • Options: --dir PATH (target project directory; default: current directory; install only) · --json
  • Exit codes: 0 installed / listed · 1 a target skill file already exists (never overwritten), or a packaged skill resource is missing (broken installation) · 2 --dir is not a directory, or an unknown skill name (the available skills are listed)

rac skill install writes each skill to .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md under the target directory — the documented Claude Code project-level discovery path — creating parent directories as needed. An existing skill file is never overwritten. The no-name form is all-or-nothing: every target path is checked first, and if any exists the command refuses with exit 1, reports the existing path(s), and writes nothing. To add a single missing skill alongside ones already installed, name it: rac skill install rac-review.

rac skill install                       # all bundled skills, current project
rac skill install rac-review            # one skill by name
rac skill install --dir ../app --json   # into another project
rac skill list                          # what is bundled

Bundled agent skills:

- rac-artifacts  Author and maintain RAC Markdown artifacts with the rac CLI.
- rac-review     Review a RAC corpus and work findings worst-first.
- rac-ingest     Convert legacy documents into valid, linked RAC artifacts.

The install --json form reports one entry per installed skill:

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "installed": true,
  "skills": [
    {
      "skill": "rac-artifacts",
      "path": ".claude/skills/rac-artifacts/SKILL.md"
    },
    {
      "skill": "rac-review",
      "path": ".claude/skills/rac-review/SKILL.md"
    },
    {
      "skill": "rac-ingest",
      "path": ".claude/skills/rac-ingest/SKILL.md"
    }
  ]
}

hook

Install or list the bundled git hooks. Two hooks are bundled: post-commit (an advisory write-cadence nudge that prints when the corpus has gone quiet and never blocks a commit) and pre-commit (validates staged Markdown artifacts and blocks the commit on errors). Hook scripts ship with the distribution as package resources, so installation works from an installed wheel without this repository.

  • Input: rac hook install — install one hook. rac hook list — enumerate the bundle.
  • Options: --style post-commit|pre-commit (default: post-commit; install only) · --dir PATH (target git repository; default: current directory) · --json
  • Exit codes: 0 installed / listed · 1 the target hook file already exists (never overwritten), or a packaged hook resource is missing (broken installation) · 2 --dir is not a directory, has no .git, or an unknown --style

rac hook install writes the script to <dir>/.git/hooks/<style> and makes it executable. An existing hook file is never overwritten. The default post-commit hook is non-blocking by design — the nudge builds the write habit without punishing it; choose --style pre-commit only when you want validation enforced at commit time. Because .git/hooks is not version-controlled, run the install once per clone (or manage core.hooksPath yourself).

rac hook install                       # post-commit advisory nudge
rac hook install --style pre-commit    # blocking artifact validation
rac hook list                          # what is bundled

{
  "schema_version": "1",
  "installed": true,
  "hook": {
    "style": "post-commit",
    "path": ".git/hooks/post-commit"
  }
}