IntentLayer CLI

Command-line tool for IntentLayer — intent-driven governance for agent-assisted development.

Install

npx intentlayer <command>

Or install globally:

npm install -g intentlayer

Commands

intentlayer attach

Attach IntentLayer governance to the current git repository.

npx intentlayer attach

This creates:

• INTENTS.md — intent registry (or appends IntentLayer section to existing)
• AGENTS.md — agent guidance contract
• intentlayer/signals/ — for recording confidence signals
• intentlayer/audits/ — for audit writeups
• .agent/skills/ — git submodule with IntentLayer skills

Safe to run multiple times (idempotent). Existing files with content are never overwritten.

intentlayer check

Validate IntentLayer configuration and intent registry integrity.

npx intentlayer check            # informational (exits 1 on fatal)
npx intentlayer check --strict   # also exits 1 on warnings
npx intentlayer check --json     # machine-readable JSON output

Runs 10 checks across 3 categories:

Intent Registry Integrity (fatal)

1. INTENTS.md exists
2. At least one intent registered (## I-NNN: headings)
3. Health states present per intent
4. No duplicate intent IDs
5. Required sections: Goal, Success Criteria, Risk Signals, Current Health (warning)

Agent Environment (fatal) 6. AGENTS.md exists with content 7. .agent/skills submodule installed

Repository Alignment (warning) 8. intentlayer/signals/ directory exists 9. intentlayer/audits/ directory exists 10. Recent commits reference intent IDs (with coverage %)

Exit codes

| Situation | Default | --strict | |-----------|---------|------------| | Clean | 0 | 0 | | Warnings only | 0 | 1 | | Fatal problems | 1 | 1 |

JSON output

npx intentlayer check --json

{
  "status": "ok",
  "intents": 6,
  "warnings": [],
  "fatals": [],
  "commitCoverage": { "referenced": 5, "total": 20, "percent": 25 }
}

What is IntentLayer?

When humans code, intent lives in their heads. When agents code, intent must live in the repository.

IntentLayer introduces:

• INTENTS.md — human-owned, durable system intents
• Skills — reusable reasoning disciplines applied by agents
• Signals & Audits — explicit confidence management over time

Learn more: intentlayer-skills

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• Git

License

CC0-1.0 — use freely, adapt carefully.