InspectMo Codegen CLI

Generate InspectMo boilerplate from Candid (.did) files and integrate simple build hooks.

This is the CLI tool for InspectMo. It is separate from the Motoko library and can be installed globally or used via npx.

Install

• Global (recommended):

  • npm i -g @icdevs-org/inspectmo
  • Then run: inspectmo --help

• One-off usage (no global install):

  • npx @icdevs-org/inspectmo@latest --help

Requirements: Node.js 18+.

Usage

• Show help

  • inspectmo --help

• Generate code from a Candid file

  • inspectmo generate path/to/service.did -o src/generated/service-inspect.mo
  • Flags:
    • --no-accessors Skip accessor functions
    • --no-inspect Skip inspect template
    • --no-guard Skip guard template
    • --no-methods Skip method extraction
    • --no-comments Skip documentation comments

• Analyze a Candid file (no code generation)

  • inspectmo analyze path/to/service.did

• Discover .did files in a project and optionally generate

  • inspectmo discover . --output src/generated/ --generate
  • Options:
    • --include <patterns...> defaults to **/*.did and .dfx/**/*.did
    • --exclude <patterns...> defaults to node_modules/** and .git/**
    • --suggest print integration suggestions

• Build system hooks (DFX only)

  • Install: inspectmo install-hooks . --output src/generated/
  • Status: inspectmo status .
  • Uninstall: inspectmo uninstall-hooks .
  • Note: mops.toml does not support prebuild hooks; only DFX integration is supported.

Examples

• Minimal generate:

  • inspectmo generate src/candid/main.did -o src/generated/main-inspect.mo

• Analyze only:

  • inspectmo analyze src/candid/user.did

• Project-wide discover and generate:

  • inspectmo discover . --generate --output src/generated/

Local development

From the repo root:

cd tools/codegen
npm ci
npm run build
node dist/cli.js --help

Optional: set up a local global link (may require writable npm prefix):

npm link
# If EACCES occurs, set a user prefix:
npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"
npm link

Troubleshooting

• EACCES on npm link or npm i -g on macOS: use npx @icdevs-org/inspectmo@latest, or set an npm user prefix as shown above.
• Not generating files: ensure the input .did path exists and the output directory is writable.
• didc not found or no types generated: install didc and ensure it’s on PATH, or specify a custom path via an environment variable:
  • DIDC=/opt/homebrew/bin/didc inspectmo generate path/to/service.did -o src/generated/service-inspect.mo

License

MIT

Issues

Report issues at: https://github.com/icdevsorg/inspect-mo/issues