commandkit/docs/development.md

# Developing CommandKit

CommandKit is distributed as a core Go module and two optional integration
modules. Core owns captured declarations, typed input preparation, installation,
dispatch, invocation reporting and outcomes, help, and version.
`integrations/ckconfig` owns ConfigKit scope adaptation and reports;
`integrations/ckprompt` owns PromptKit engine,
definition inspection, requirements discovery, and concrete request validation.
The maintained [consumer guide](consumers/guide.md) links to the three maintained
consumers.
The [README](../README.md) provides project orientation; the
[documentation policy](policy/documentation.md#canonical-ownership) assigns
canonical documentation owners.

For application-owned aliases, use the
[CLI reference](cli.md#application-owned-aliases),
[Go declarations and GoDoc](../command.go), and
[ADR 0013](adr/0013-application-alias-routing.md). Keep unfinished work and
capability proposals in [future work](roadmap/future.md).

## Initial orientation

1. Inspect the worktree and preserve unrelated staged and unstaged changes.
2. Read the [agent policy](policy/agents.md) and select other applicable policies
   using the guide below.
3. Read the owning roadmap for proposals and implementation status, and the
   applicable ADR for accepted decisions and rationale.
4. Inspect implementation and relevant consumer contracts when they exist.

## Policy Reading Guide

| Policy | Read before… |
| --- | --- |
| [Policy set provenance](policy/meta.md) | Adopting policies, checking upstream revisions, or updating the adopted policy set. |
| [Agents](policy/agents.md) | Recommending, planning, or implementing repository changes. |
| [Architecture](policy/architecture.md) | Planning or changing Go library code or its structure. |
| [Testing](policy/testing.md) | Selecting validation for code changes, or adding, changing, removing, or evaluating tests. |
| [Documentation](policy/documentation.md) | Writing, revising, or reorganizing documentation. |
| [OSS](policy/oss.md) | Adding or updating dependencies or incorporated third-party material, or changing licensing or attribution. |
| [Release](policy/release.md) | Preparing or publishing a release, changing release procedures, or making versioning and compatibility decisions. |

- Read applicable policies before making decisions they govern; multiple policies
  may apply.
- Select policies using the task triggers above. Follow cross-references to
  relevant sections when needed to resolve a concrete question.
- Reuse policies already available in context; reread when changed or no longer
  available.
- Expand reading when the task's scope expands.
- When revising a policy itself, read that policy and any provisions elsewhere
  affected by the revision.

## Task-specific reading guide

| Task | Read |
| --- | --- |
| Implemented CLI behavior | [CLI reference](cli.md) |
| Invocation reporting | [CLI reporting contract](cli.md#reporting), [consumer guide](consumers/guide.md#invocation-reporting), core GoDoc, and [ADR 0014](adr/0014-invocation-reporting.md) |
| Application-owned aliases | [CLI reference](cli.md#application-owned-aliases), [Go declarations and GoDoc](../command.go), [consumer guide](consumers/guide.md#application-owned-aliases), and [ADR 0013](adr/0013-application-alias-routing.md) |
| Public API usage and standard-suite wiring | [Consumer guide](consumers/guide.md), [ckconfig package](../integrations/ckconfig/doc.go), [ckprompt package](../integrations/ckprompt/doc.go), and applicable ADRs |
| Dispatcher, registration, or typed inputs | [Command declarations](../command.go), [bindings](../binding.go), [invocation](../execute.go), and [ADR 0001](adr/0001-command-dispatch-and-inputs.md), refined by [ADR 0011](adr/0011-captured-declarations-and-installation.md) |
| Backend integration | [Internal overview](internal/overview.md), [adapter implementation](../internal/cobra/parse.go), and [ADR 0002](adr/0002-cobra-backend.md) |
| Public facade or adapter boundaries | [Internal overview](internal/overview.md), [ADR 0003](adr/0003-public-facade.md) as scoped by [ADR 0010](adr/0010-optional-integration-modules.md), and the architecture policy |
| Module ownership and public contracts | [Consumer guide](consumers/guide.md), [internal overview](internal/overview.md), [core GoDoc](../doc.go), [ckconfig GoDoc](../integrations/ckconfig/doc.go), [ckprompt GoDoc](../integrations/ckprompt/doc.go), and applicable ADRs |
| Unfinished work and capability proposals | [Future work](roadmap/future.md) |
| Completed planning and implementation history | [Completed dependency upgrades, PromptKit validation, discovery, smoke testing, and remediation](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/a6278a6d9f940948ec7745955d745523aaff0734/docs/roadmap), [earlier ConfigKit and PromptKit adoption and remediation](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/8a82620dfcd34c0ae56bbecb0d014eb49786bc92/docs/roadmap), [earlier retired records](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/6bc37e7ba64ca0920b4d0cc77039a18d4006b24e/docs/roadmap), and [completed module implementation and remediation](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/bb2528532b78d30e52f5082e491a5e1fd9b0fb99/docs/roadmap) in Git history |
| Release tooling | [Maintainer release procedure](release.md) |
| Performance maintenance | [Internal overview](internal/overview.md), existing benchmarks, and [possible further efficiency work](roadmap/future.md#possible-further-efficiency-work) |
| Licensing or incorporated material | [Project grant](../COPYRIGHT), [license texts](../LICENSE), and [attribution](oss/attribution.md) |
| Policy provenance | [Policy provenance](policy/meta.md) |

Read all applicable rows for cross-cutting work. Go declarations and GoDoc own
current exported contracts; the CLI reference owns operator behavior. The
[maintainer release procedure](release.md) owns current release operations.
Completed roadmaps and implementation evidence remain available in Git history,
including [ConfigKit adoption, reporting, release-tooling, and remediation records](https://forge.maximumdirect.net/base-layer/commandkit/src/commit/260256d722f52bc947103d078cb67a129f4cc9f1/docs/roadmap),
[application-owned alias planning, implementation, and remediation](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/f42aefe02d84e154855ac922173e6f367180929f/docs/roadmap)
and [PromptKit requirements implementation and remediation](https://gitea.maximumdirect.net/eric/CommandKit/src/commit/40499a43608bf60d1104cd8ee24caf18ac0e9e66/docs/roadmap).
These records are not assignments to restart completed work. The
[future work record](roadmap/future.md) preserves unfinished work and unselected
proposals separately from current contracts.

## Documentation validation

For current prose work, inspect relevant diffs, check local links and fragment
destinations, check provenance and template residue, and confirm that statements
about current behavior match the repository. Include intended new files in that
review. Preserve supplied license-text formatting and compare copied texts with
their pinned source.

For tracked and staged prose, run from the repository root:

```sh
git diff --check -- '*.md' COPYRIGHT
git diff --cached --check -- '*.md' COPYRIGHT
```

These commands do not cover untracked files. Review their contents and whitespace
before staging, or use the staged check after staging only the intended files.
Sibling-checkout references in retired planning records are historical review
evidence, not build dependencies. Implemented contracts belong in CommandKit
under their canonical owners.

The root module does not traverse nested modules. Preserve the ignored `go.work`
and `go.work.sum`; use `GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local` for dependency preparation,
module suites, and examples during the ckconfig migration. Local ckprompt uses
the old ConfigKit identity and cannot compose with migrated local ckconfig. Its
independent suite and composed example use published ckconfig v0.2.0; restore
full local workspace guidance after the coordinated ckprompt migration.
Run `go test ./...` separately from each module directory.

Format changed Go files with `gofmt`. The
[maintainer release procedure](release.md) owns candidate preparation and
publication commands.

## Release tooling development

Run the focused launcher wiring tests with `go test ./scripts`. The release
profiles select upstream checks of committed inputs independently for each
module; these checks do not replace domain review. See the
[release procedure](release.md) for publication, delivery, and recovery.

Follow the [local commit policy](policy/agents.md#git-commit-policy). Completed
units receive local commits by default, subject to explicit user instructions.
Preserve unrelated work; default commit authorization does not authorize pushing
or publishing.

## Current public examples

The maintained consumers compile with their owning module suites and run without
external services. The PromptKit smoke examples use local fixtures and the
example's configured client:

```sh
GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run ./examples/core workspace greet --count=0 --tag=first --tag second
(cd integrations/ckconfig/examples/simple && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . config show)
(cd integrations/ckconfig/examples/simple && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . config diff --config fixtures/before.yml --against-config fixtures/after.yml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . config validate --scope all --campaign spring --limit=0)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . config diff --scope app --config fixtures/before.yml --against-config fixtures/after.yml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . config diff --scope promptkit --config fixtures/before.yml --against-config fixtures/after.yml --campaign spring)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit list prompts --config fixtures/before.yml --campaign spring)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit list profiles --config fixtures/after.yml --campaign autumn --format yaml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit list backends --namespace team)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit list namespaces --kind prompt --kind profile)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit list collections)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit show prompt briefing --campaign spring --format yaml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit requirements show briefing --campaign spring)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit requirements show briefing --campaign spring --var mode=full --format yaml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit requirements validate briefing --campaign spring --input topic=fixtures/topic.txt)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit requirements validate briefing --campaign spring --input topic=fixtures/topic.txt --var mode=full --input notes=fixtures/notes.txt --format yaml)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit test reachability --campaign spring --prompt briefing --profile spring)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . promptkit test all --campaign spring --prompt briefing --profile spring)
(cd integrations/ckprompt/examples/composed && GOWORK=off GOTOOLCHAIN=local go run . session restore session-42 --campaign spring)
```

The [consumer guide](consumers/guide.md) explains how their public API usage
fits together.


## Shell completion validation

The opt-in interactive completion checks require Bash, Zsh, Fish, Python with
`pexpect`, and the Bash completion package. The harness starts a clean Bash
and sources `/usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion` by default. Set
`COMPLETION_BASH_INIT` to your installation's initialization file if it is
elsewhere. See the [operator setup](cli.md#shell-completion) for ordinary use.

```sh
COMMANDKIT_COMPLETION_SHELLS=1 go test -count=1 -run '^TestCompletionShells$' ./internal/cobra
COMMANDKIT_COMPLETION_SHELLS=1 go test -count=1 -run '^TestCompletionConsumerInShells$' .
```