cli_guidelines

CLI Guidelines

Interface-design guidance for any command-line tool in this repo (ig-tool, codemap, md-doc-tree-*, md-structure-sync, or a new CLI). Governs the interface contract — flags, output modes, exit codes, help text — as distinct from internal code structure.

Start here

cli_guidelines.md — the full guideline set, grounded in the clig.dev / 12-Factor / POSIX / GNU consensus.

When to use this

• Designing a new CLI or a new subcommand's flags/output shape.
• Reviewing an existing CLI for interface-contract gaps (missing --version, flat exit codes, inconsistent --dry-run/--force, etc.).
• Any refactor that touches argument parsing, output formatting, or exit-code semantics.

Not for internal code structure (module layout, function decomposition) — that's the Python Development Guidelines KB (dev_guidelines/python_guidelines/) instead.