@charter-dev/cli

CLI for Charter: spec manifest builder.

Reads .spec.md files from your specs/ folder and produces a single JSON manifest that @charter-dev/react loads at runtime.

Status: v0.1.0-alpha.

Install

pnpm add -D @charter-dev/cli

Commands

charter init

Initializes Charter in the current project:

• Creates specs/routes/example.spec.md if the specs/ folder is missing
• Adds prebuild/predev scripts to package.json
• Adds .charter/ to .gitignore
• Warns if Tailwind CSS is not installed
• Runs the first manifest build

Run once per project.

charter build-manifest

charter build-manifest [--specs-dir ./specs] [--output ./.charter/specs.json] [--watch]

Walks specs/ recursively, collects every *.spec.md file, and writes a JSON manifest.

Typically wired as prebuild and predev so your bundler can import the manifest as JSON.

charter build-manifest --watch

Runs the initial build, then watches for changes. Rebuilds on add, change, and unlink.

Spec folder structure

specs/
  routes/
    hello.spec.md        → /hello
    nested/page.spec.md  → /nested/page
  components/
    counter.spec.md      → components/counter
  shared/
    privacy.spec.md      → shared/privacy

specs/routes/*.spec.md files map to URL paths. Other subfolders keep their path prefix.

Manifest format

{
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "generatedAt": "2026-04-20T10:00:00.000Z",
  "specs": {
    "/hello": {
      "path": "routes/hello.spec.md",
      "title": "/hello",
      "content": "# /hello\n\n..."
    },
    "components/counter": {
      "path": "components/counter.spec.md",
      "title": "components/counter",
      "content": "..."
    }
  }
}

License

MIT