The CLI

eidos is the mechanical half of the standard as a program. Published on npm as eidosmd.

npm install -g eidosmd
eidos --help

Node 20 or newer. No account, no service: it reads and writes plain files in your repository, and installs in a second or two.

What it does

Command	Does
eidos install	Create a root from a seed or a published framework, or pull pieces into one that exists
eidos new	Scaffold a blueprint that is born conforming
eidos check	Validate the root against its own framework: errors and warnings, never a refusal
eidos index	Rebuild the index inside Framework.yaml
eidos framework, list, show	Read the framework and the blueprints, --json for scripts
eidos property	Get, set, or unset one blueprint’s property from the shell
eidos configure:<noun>	Change the framework: a property, collection, folder, group, variant, term, doc, or role
eidos draft	Start a blueprint before it has a collection, and publish it when it does
eidos browser	Open the root in a local web page: a workbench with a markdown editor and every plugin’s views
eidos plugin, setup	Which plugins are on for the root, the users, who this machine acts as
eidos canvas, comments, backlog, assets, linter	The plugins’ own commands, each mounted while its plugin is on
eidos version	Record a named snapshot of the root, when asked
eidos migrate	Move a root to the standard the CLI carries
eidos roles, whoami	The roles the framework ships, and who is in the seat
eidos instructions, agents	The workflow an agent follows, and a pointer to it in AGENTS.md

CommandsEvery command, its options, and the exit codes.

The BrowserA workbench over the root: tables, a reader and editor, the canvas, comments, a backlog, and your agent.

PluginsThe premise every plugin is held to, the switch, and a page each for Canvas, Git, Comments, Backlog, Assets, Linter, Terminal, and Plato.

How it implements the standard

• The root is found by its marker. Every command finds the root by the .eidos/ inside it, looking up the tree from where you run it and then two levels down. --root <path> names one explicitly.
• The framework is read from the root, never from a copy. Nothing about a collection, section, or property name is hardcoded. Framework →
• Frontmatter is generated from the Properties table. new fills what it can and leaves the rest blank rather than guessed. Properties →
• Validation surfaces, never blocks. check reports against your framework’s own table and templates. The output is a review a person acts on. What check reports →
• The index is regenerated wholesale. index rewrites one key in Framework.yaml and nothing else.
• The agent guidance is a command. eidos instructions prints the workflow, restated around the commands. Agents →

What it never does

It never writes a sentence of a blueprint’s prose, decides scope, resolves an open question, or fills a blank property with a plausible value. Those are the owner’s.

License and versions

The CLI and the desktop app are free to use for any purpose, personal or commercial, as they are: licensed under PolyForm Strict 1.0.0 with an added permission for commercial use, they may not be changed, made the basis of new works, or redistributed. The standard and the seeds are Buildable’s, Apache-2.0.

The CLI versions separately from the standard it carries. eidos --version names both. Versioning →