CLIARE audits CLIs for agent readiness, inferring command shapes and generating CI scorecards. It addresses the gap between human-centric CLI design and agent interaction by providing an evidence-backed understanding of CLI capabilities, preconditions, and side effects, benefiting CLI maintainers, agent harness builders, and security reviewers.

How It Works

CLIARE operates as a black-box auditor, probing CLI runtime behavior under controlled conditions. It records evidence—filesystem changes, output, errors—to infer the command surface, detect side effects, and generate artifacts like command indexes and scorecards. This approach uniquely derives insights from observed behavior, unlike traditional methods relying on potentially outdated documentation.

Quick Start & Requirements

Installation is straightforward via cargo install cliare, a prebuilt binary script, or from source. The binary installer defaults to $HOME/.local/bin. No specific hardware prerequisites like GPUs are mentioned. Source installation requires Rust/Cargo.

Highlighted Details

• Generates evidence-backed command-index.json detailing command paths, flags, preconditions, and output contracts for agents.
• Surfaces undocumented runtime behavior and side effects from safe-looking commands, aiding security reviews.
• Provides role-specific reports for maintainers (fix queue), harnesses (command maps), and security reviewers (side-effect analysis), alongside scorecards, issue ledgers, SARIF/JUnit CI artifacts, and agent skills.

Maintenance & Community

The README does not detail specific community channels (e.g., Discord, Slack), notable contributors, sponsorships, or a public roadmap.

Licensing & Compatibility

Licensed under Apache-2.0, CLIARE is permissive for commercial use and integration with closed-source projects.

Limitations & Caveats

CLIARE functions as a runtime auditor for agent readiness, distinct from binary fuzzers focused on vulnerability discovery. It prioritizes the released binary as the source of truth, acknowledging potential discrepancies with documentation. Measurement effectiveness may require tuning profiles (quick, standard, deep) and advanced knobs for complex CLIs.