cmd-mesh

The command mesh model, implemented: one declarative program definition that is simultaneously a set of plain typed functions, a CLI, an MCP server, a completion source, and a typed wrap over external binaries. The contract is ideations/08-final.ts; this package is its interpreter.

import { external, program } from "cmd-mesh"

const git = external({
  name: "git",
  commands: {
    status: {
      description: "working tree status",
      input: { short: { type: "boolean", cli: "--short, -s" } },
      output: "string"
    }
  }
})

const mesh = program({
  name: "mesh",
  version: "0.2.0",
  commands: {
    snapshot: {
      description: "record a directory snapshot",
      input: {
        directory: { type: "string", suggest: "folders", cli: "<directory>" },
        depth: { type: "string.integer.parse = '2'", cli: { usage: "--depth, -d", env: "MESH_DEPTH" } },
        verbose: { type: "boolean", cli: "--verbose, -v" }
      },
      run: (input) => ({ snapped: input.directory, depth: input.depth })
      //     ^ inferred: { directory: string; depth: number; verbose: boolean }
    },
    git // a module mounts by reference — nesting mechanism for programs too
  }
})

The typed functions ARE the program; the CLI and the MCP server are its two projections:

mesh.snapshot({ directory: "./public" })  // the program itself: a sync handler
                                          //   is a sync function — no promise

// bin.ts — the complete entry point; the word `mcp` serves agents,
// everything else is the cli. one line, zero plumbing.
await mesh.main()

// claude mcp config: { "command": "mesh-bin", "args": ["mcp"] }
//   → tools mesh_snapshot, mesh_git_status with ArkType-projected JSON Schemas

Declaration reference

Everything a parameter or command can declare, in one place. The cli string is the usage notation; an object form adds cli config beside it.

const tool = program({
  name: "tool",
  version: "1.0.0",
  cli: { default: "dev" },              // bare `tool` runs `tool dev` (an alias works too)
  // program-level options: root input joins EVERY command's handler,
  // call surface, and schema — `tool --log-level debug dev` and
  // `tool dev --log-level debug` both reach the handler
  input: {
    logLevel: { type: "'debug' | 'info' = 'info'", cli: "--log-level" }
  },
  commands: {
    dev: {
      description: "start dev mode",
      cli: {
        alias: ["d"],                                       // `tool d` ≡ `tool dev`
        examples: ["tool dev src/main.ts --port 8080"]      // an Examples section in help
      },
      input: {
        entry: { type: "string", cli: "<entry>" },          // required positional
        out: { type: "string", cli: "[out]" },              // optional positional
        files: { type: "string", cli: "[...files]" },       // variadic (zero ok; <...files> requires one)
        port: { type: "string.integer.parse = '3000'",      // parsed + defaulted
          cli: { usage: "--port, -p", env: "TOOL_PORT" } }, // argv > env > default
        tag: { type: "string", cli: "--tag <tags...>" },    // repeatable → string[]
        token: { type: "string",                            // `required: true` would force a flag
          cli: { usage: "--token", hidden: true },          // hidden: out of help/completion, still parses
          mcp: { hidden: true } },                          // out of the tool schema, still validates
        level: { type: "'debug' | 'info' | 'warn'" }        // no cli → derived --level flag,
        //                                                  //   union members tab-complete
      },
      narrow: (input, ctx) =>                               // cross-field invariant, both boundaries
        input.out === input.entry ? ctx.mustBe("a distinct output path") : true,
      output: { url: "string", tags: "string[]", logLevel: "string" },
      run: (input) => ({                                    // ArkType output contract → MCP outputSchema
        url: `http://localhost:${input.port}`,
        tags: [...input.tag],
        logLevel: input.logLevel                            // ← the program-level option, right here
      }),
      mcp: {
        name: "tool_serve",                                 // overrides the derived tool name
        annotations: { readOnlyHint: true }                 // MCP tool annotations, verbatim
      }
    },
    render: {
      description: "custom human rendering",
      cli: { render: (output) => `→ ${output.url}` },       // humans only; --json and MCP unaffected
      output: { url: "string" },
      run: () => ({ url: "https://example.com" })
    }
  }
})

Every command also answers --json (machine output on stdout), --help, and the program --version.

Exit codes

cli.run/main resolve the getopt convention: 0 success, 2 usage errors (unknown command/flag, missing value, invalid input), 1 runtime failures. Every usage error appends the routed command's usage line and a --help pointer, so one failed invocation is enough to self-correct. A handler that needs a report exit — diff's "differences found", a linter's severity code — throws an error carrying exitCode; that code owns the exit and the message prints bare, without failure framing:

run: (input) => {
  const drifted = check(input)
  if (drifted.length > 0) {
    throw Object.assign(new Error(`${drifted.length} files drifted`), { exitCode: 3 })
  }
  return { clean: true }
}

Testing a mesh program

The typed functions are the test seam — call them directly, no argv, no process, no capture machinery:

expect(tool.dev({ entry: "src/main.ts" })).toEqual({ url: "http://localhost:3000" })
expect(() => tool.dev({ entry: "x", out: "x" })).toThrow(/distinct output/)

For argv-grammar concerns, cli.run(argv) is pure toward the process — it returns the exit code and never calls process.exit — so asserting on it composes with any output-capture your test harness already has. cli.help() and cli.complete(words) return strings/arrays directly.

A handler that shells out needs no mocking seam: it is a plain function and Ctx is a structural exported type, so hoist it to a const and unit test it against a hand-built ctx:

import type { Ctx } from "cmd-mesh"

const list = async (input: { readonly dir: string }, ctx: Ctx) => {
  const result = await ctx.exec("git", ["ls-files", input.dir])
  return { files: result.stdout.split("\n").filter(Boolean) }
}
// in the declaration: run: list
// in the test: await list({ dir: "src" }, { surface: "call", exec: fakeExec })

The two boundaries

Each command compiles to two ArkType types:

• token boundary (argv): CLI strings in, values out — morphs parse (string.integer.parse), ArkType input-side defaults apply (= '2'), booleans come from flag presence/--no-x negation.
• value boundary (direct calls and MCP): canonical values in (depth: 4), defaults evaluated through their morphs at compile time, same command-level narrow cross-field invariants.

Both feed the same handler. module.args exposes the value-boundary type (assert/allows/toJsonSchema); the un-narrowed variant powers MCP input schemas (predicates are not JSON-Schema-representable).

A parameter's type is any ArkType definition — string defs, object defs, tuple expressions, Type instances. A bare string at parameter position is the shorthand; an object at parameter position is always a descriptor, and its type field is verbatim ArkType. Structured parameters (signKey: { type: { a: "string" } }) take real objects on the value boundary and a JSON token on the CLI (--sign-key '{"a":"…"}' — input-domain JSON, morphed through the definition), and project full nested JSON Schemas to MCP.

Synchrony

The typed functions keep their handler's own synchrony: a sync handler compiles to a sync function, and only a handler that returns a promise (async work, ctx.exec, wrapped externals) compiles to an async one — the return type tells you which. Input validation is eager and synchronous for every function (assert semantics: invalid input throws, even from an async-typed function); handler and output failures follow the handler's synchrony. try { await fn(...) } catch handles every case uniformly. Failures are the exported tagged classes (InvalidInput, HandlerFailure, InvalidOutput, ExternalExit, …), catchable by type.

Module surface

| member | meaning | | --- | --- | | module(input) / module.sub(input) | the program itself: typed invocation, handler-synchronous (the argument is optional when every key is optional) | | module.args | compiled value-boundary ArkType surface (assert/allows/toJsonSchema) | | module.main(argv?) | the composed bin: head token mcp serves the MCP projection, anything else runs the CLI projection. Bare main() reads process argv and owns the exit code — a complete bin.ts is await mytool.main(). A program whose own vocabulary needs the word mcp uses cli.run() as its bin instead | | module.cli.run(argv?) | the CLI projection alone: parse, route, run, render, resolve exit code; routes --help, --version, and the complete protocol | | module.cli.help(path?) / module.cli.complete(words) | rendered help (usage, Arguments/Options with [possible values: …], defaults, required markers, root Built-in row); completion candidates | | module.mcp.tools / module.mcp.serve() | the MCP projection (stdio, @modelcontextprotocol/sdk) — tools carry outputSchema and annotations, calls return schema-conformant structuredContent (non-object outputs wrapped under result) | | module.spec | the machine-readable self-description: a JSON-serializable tree of every command (path, aliases, examples, per-surface hiding, runnability, documented input/output JSON Schemas) and parameter (cli grammar, required/variadic/boolean, default value, env). Doc generators and UI generators consume this — never parse help text |

Declaration validation

program()/external() validate the whole declaration at compile time and throw one InvalidDeclaration listing every problem with its command/parameter path — unparsable ArkType defs, flag token collisions (including aliases), variadic positionals that aren't last, boolean positionals, env fallback on positionals:

invalid declaration:
  tool broken · bad: ParseError: 'not.a.keyword' is unresolvable
  tool broken: flag --same is claimed by flag and other

The execution context

Handlers and suggest generators receive ctx — interpreter-owned capability, not user dependency injection. Every member is mockable by handing a plain fake object (Ctx is structural) and mediated per invocation.

ctx.exec(bin, args, options?) runs through the Effect process spawner. Two modes, both first-class:

// report mode (default): exit codes are data — branch on them.
// `which`-probing and `git grep`'s 1-means-no-match live here.
const probe = await ctx.exec("which", [candidate])
if (probe.exitCode === 0) return probe.stdout.trim()

// succeed-or-throw: declare the success set; any other exit throws
// ExternalExit with the child's stderr. NEVER hand-roll this wrapper.
await ctx.exec("pnpm", ["run", "build"], { cwd, stdio: "inherit", successCodes: [0] })

Options: cwd, env, timeoutMs (interruption kills the process), stdio: "inherit" to stream a long-running child to the terminal, and successCodes — the same vocabulary external commands use.

ctx.project and ctx.workspace are package-management's own consumer surfaces, exposed whole — repository questions without spawning and parsing:

run: async (input, ctx) => {
  const self = ctx.project("<package_folder>")   // manifest, mtime-cached
  self.packageJson.version
  self.isDependencyInPackageJson("arktype")
  const pm = await self.findPackageManager()      // lockfile-detected
  await pm.installPackage(["left-pad"])           // injection-guarded, batched
}

// the canonical monorepo completion source:
const workspacePackages = (ctx: SuggestContext) => ctx.workspace.packageNames()
//   … suggest: workspacePackages

The repository toolkit

The same library's path-anchored utilities are re-exported from cmd-mesh directly — import them wherever no invocation context is involved:

import { getPath, modifyJSONFile, project, workspace } from "cmd-mesh"

getPath("<workspace_folder>/node_modules/.bin")   // absolute local-bin path
modifyJSONFile("tsconfig.json", { "compilerOptions.strict": { value: true } })
//   ^ comment-preserving JSONC edits, dot paths, sequential-edit safe

Also exported: modifyJSON (in-memory form), createFile (writes through missing directories), definePackageManagerClient, importer/importMap/definePackage (install-on-missing imports), and the PackageJson/PackageInfo/PackageName types.

Guided invocation

cli.interactive(path?) walks the same compiled model as prompts: select a command (descriptions as hints, cli.default preselected), answer one typed prompt per parameter — booleans confirm, enumerable literals select, suggestion sources autocomplete, everything else is text validated by the parameter's own token morph, so the prompt can never accept what the parser would reject — then preview the equivalent command line and dispatch it through the ordinary cli path (same rendering, same exit codes; cancelling exits 130). path pre-selects a starting command; without a terminal it exits 1.

await mesh.cli.interactive()          // full walk from the root
await mesh.cli.interactive(["build"]) // start at a command

Shell completion

Completion runs on @bomb.sh/tab — the Cobra-protocol completion engine used by Cloudflare, Nuxt, Astro, and Vitest. The compiled model projects into tab's registry, so the same declaration answers zsh, bash, fish, and powershell:

# print an installable script for your shell
mesh complete zsh

# what the shell script calls back into (value, description, directive)
mesh complete -- snapshot --d

--depth	traversal depth
:4

Because the protocol re-invokes the bin, candidates are computed live: literal values enumerate from ArkType unions ("'patch' | 'minor'" tab-completes), suggest: "folders" | "filepaths" lists the working directory at completion time, and a Fig-style generator — (ctx: SuggestContext) => Promise<string[]> with ctx.exec available — resolves real branch names or workspace manifests on demand. Generator failures degrade to static candidates; completion never errors. Hoist generators to consts with annotated parameters: an inline arrow is context-sensitive and collapses the command's type inference.

tab also registers completion delegation for package managers, so a locally-installed bin completes through pnpm exec mesh <TAB> without being on PATH.

CLI conventions

The argv grammar follows the conventions the wider ecosystem settled on (the suite borrows citty's own test cases, including two citty cannot pass):

mesh snapshot ./public --depth=4      # = syntax, long or short (-d=4)
mesh --verbose snapshot ./public      # flags are position-free; the
                                      #   subcommand path is positional
mesh snapshot ./public --verbose=off  # boolean literals: true/false,
                                      #   yes/no, on/off, 1/0
mesh build --no-minify src/a.ts       # --no-x negates any long boolean
MESH_DEPTH=4 mesh snapshot ./public   # argv > env > default, all three
                                      #   validated by the same token type
mesh run -- --help                    # after --, every token is a value

When a wrapped external's positional value itself starts with -, the reconstructed argv fences it behind -- so it reaches the binary as data — argv injection into git rev-parse and friends is structurally off.

CLI rendering

Human output follows the grep convention: string results print raw, arrays of flat records print as aligned rows, everything else pretty JSON. Agents never see this — MCP responses carry JSON text plus structuredContent.

Program-level options

Root input declares options every command receives — handler, typed call, schema, and spec alike, with argv accepting them on either side of the subcommand. A root narrow travels with them, so an invariant over program-level values holds wherever they are supplied. One inference bound: a root narrow beside bare child handlers can trip TS2589 ("excessively deep") — annotate those handlers' input parameter.

Nesting

Mount modules by reference — commands: { cache, git } — at any depth; each mounted program/external carries its own full inference. Inline commands one level deep infer fully (bare (input, ctx) handlers included); deeper inline handlers lose contextual parameter types (a TypeScript reverse-mapped-inference limit), which surfaces as a loud implicit-any error — the fix is to mount a subprogram, which is the intended structure anyway.

Internals

• Effect TS v4 throughout, per the repo praxis in AGENTS.md. Nothing Effect-shaped leaks: the public surface is plain values and Promises via ManagedRuntime.
• Process execution is effect/unstable/process (ChildProcessSpawner), chosen over tinyexec: scoped interruption-safe child processes, streamed output, typed exit codes, zero adapter code. ctx.exec in handlers is a thin promise bridge over the same service.
• Validation is ArkType only. Errors are Data.TaggedError classes — Effect Schema is not used anywhere.

Planned projections

• Interactive CLI (Ink): generated prompt flows from the same compiled model — each parameter already carries type, description, completion source, and default, which is exactly what a prompt generator needs. This is the Fig lineage of the design: a rich spec that powers a human UI.

Validation

pnpm --filter cmd-mesh run typecheck
pnpm --filter cmd-mesh run test        # vitest: public surface + interpreter internals
pnpm --filter cmd-mesh run test:types  # @ark/attest inference proofs

examples/demo.ts drives every surface for real; examples/bin.ts is a working bin (tsx examples/bin.ts snapshot . -d 4, tsx examples/bin.ts mcp).