intent-system / intent-cli

intent-cli is deterministic support tooling for running an intent-driven development workflow on top of GitHub. It helps you organize intents, prepare and publish Child Issue Contracts, drive implementation and review loops, and recover when a loop looks wrong — all through explicit, inspectable commands.

intent-cli never launches Claude, Codex, or any other AI provider. It emits guidance, validates contracts, and performs bounded GitHub/metadata transitions. The AI agent (you, or your coding assistant) stays in the driver's seat and asks intent-cli what to do next.

• Package id / command: intent-cli
• License: Apache-2.0
• Repository: https://github.com/J-Tech-Japan/intent-system
• Official site: https://www.intent-driven-development.com/ — the Intent-Driven Development concept & intent-system service site, operated by J-Tech Japan (日本語)

intent-driven-development.com is operated by J-Tech Japan and covers the broader Intent-Driven Development concept and the intent-system service overview. This GitHub repository remains the source for code, releases, installation, and detailed docs.

ドキュメント / Documentation: 日本語 | English

はじめての方へ: インストール後、intent-cli --version で動作確認し、 Claude・Codex・Copilot などの AI エージェントのチャットで intent-cli に聞いて... と伝えるだけで始められます。 詳しくは日本語ドキュメントをご覧ください。

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Quickstart

1. Install

You need a .NET 10 SDK (dotnet --version should report 10.x).

dotnet tool install -g JTechJapan.IntentSystem.Cli

If intent-cli is not found after install, add ~/.dotnet/tools (macOS/Linux) or %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools (Windows) to your PATH.

No .NET SDK? See Install without a .NET SDK for self-contained binaries. Need the preview channel? See the developer reference.

2. Verify

intent-cli --version

3. Ask an AI agent

Open Claude, Codex, Copilot, or another coding assistant with access to your repository and paste one of these prompts:

Start or continue a project:

I want to work on <owner>/<repo> with intent-cli. Ask intent-cli what phase I'm in and what I should decide next.

Start an implementation loop:

Set up a child implementation loop for <owner>/<repo>. Ask intent-cli for the next step.

Grill a topic (persistent interview mode):

Grill <topic> with intent-cli. Keep asking me one question at a time until the intent is packet-ready.

Stack the backlog (create packets, publish the first issue):

Stack the available packets for <owner>/<repo> with intent-cli. Create the ready packets and publish only the first issue.

Ask what to do next:

intent-cli に聞いて、次に何をしたらいいか教えてください。 (Ask intent-cli next to recommend the right design-side process.)

Inspect the real product (evidence-backed observation):

Inspect <target> with intent-cli. Observe the real behavior, separate evidence from inference, and propose packet candidates.

Start agmsg orchestrator mode (preview):

I want to start agmsg orchestrator mode for <owner>/<repo> with intent-cli. Ask intent-cli for the orchestrator setup checklist.

The agent runs intent-cli commands internally and brings back questions or results. You focus on intent, priorities, and approval decisions. In grill mode (intent-cli grill) the thread stays persistent — it builds an open-question backlog and keeps asking one question at a time, continuing after each answer until a stop condition is reached.

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Documentation

• English: docs/en/ — install, project start, intent organization, packet/issue creation, implementation & review loop setup, recovery.
• 日本語: docs/ja/ — 同上のドキュメント日本語版。
• Command reference: docs/en/08-command-reference.md — agent-facing and power-user command surfaces.
• Developer reference: docs/en/09-developer-reference.md — packaged invocation smoke test, preview channel, version flow.
• Agent-message orchestration (preview): docs/en/12-agent-message-orchestration.md — the optional agmsg orchestrator mode (日本語: docs/ja/12).

Orchestrator mode is preview/experimental. By default, implementation and review run as independent timer loops (fully supported, unchanged). The optional agmsg orchestrator mode adds a fourth orchestrator thread that paces the implementation and review threads over a local message bus instead of timers: the normal steady state is message-driven — implementation/review replies wake the orchestrator, so routine fast polling is not required — with an optional low-frequency design-side watchdog as the safety net; an explicit orchestrator timer remains supported only as a fallback/legacy polling option. The implementation and review threads are always loopless receivers, and you should not also run their recurring timers for the same route. It covers single/multi-domain routing, next-slice publication, CI wait, dependency planning, a safe stale-thread health check, and safe-repair vs escalation. agmsg is a signal layer only — intent-cli and GitHub stay authoritative. This mode is opt-in and still being hardened.

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Community

Join the J-Tech JAPAN OSS Discord for community discussion, questions, and lightweight support. Discord is for general chat; for reproducible bugs or actionable feature requests, please open a GitHub issue instead. Security-sensitive reports go to SECURITY.md, not Discord.

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License

This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 — see the LICENSE file for the full text and NOTICE for attribution. The published intent-cli NuGet package declares Apache-2.0 via SPDX license metadata.

Release artifacts (the NuGet package and self-contained binaries) and OSS preview CI artifacts carry no expiration or private-use gating.