CLI Application Profile

Purpose

Use when arguments, environment, standard streams, exit status, filesystem effects, and process behavior define the product contract for people or automation.

Priority and defaults

Correctness and usability precede compatibility, reliability, security, maintainability, and performance.

Core Skill	Mode	Rationale
code-clarity	balanced	Keep command flow and effects visible.
contracts-and-errors	strict-boundaries	Parse external invocation and inputs.
state-and-side-effects	single-owner-mutation	Coordinate filesystem and remote effects.
api-and-compatibility	external-api	Treat automation-visible behavior as contract.
dependencies-and-boundaries	framework-native	Prefer direct process conventions.
testing-strategy	integration-balanced	Exercise process-level behavior.
safe-change	compatibility-first	Protect documented automation contracts.

Policy

Define argument, environment, input, output, diagnostic, and exit contracts. Machine output MUST be separable from diagnostics. Noninteractive operation MUST NOT depend on prompts. Consequential actions SHOULD support preview, explicit scope, interruption handling, and actionable partial-failure reporting. Secrets MUST NOT be exposed through diagnostics or unsafe invocation channels.

Common modifiers are public-api, strict-backward-compatibility, and security-sensitive. This profile does not prescribe command syntax or a terminal interface.