callstack__agent-device/docs/agents/cli-flags.md

Adding a CLI Flag

Thread a flag only through the layers that consume it:

1. packages/contracts/src/cli-flags.ts: add to CliFlags; add the definition to the matching packages/command-registry/src/flag-definitions-*.ts owner and the relevant group in packages/command-registry/src/flag-groups.ts (for example SNAPSHOT_FLAGS). Then update the command family metadata/schema that exposes the flag; find the owner with rg -n "<command>|supportedFlags|allowedFlags" src/commands src/cli-schema src/cli/parser. For schema-only CLI commands, the owner is SCHEMA_ONLY_CLI_COMMAND_SCHEMAS in src/cli-schema/command-overrides.ts. Every flag declaration states projectConfig (may be set from a project agent-device.json) and recorded (the session recorder copies it into SessionAction.flags). Both are required, so a new declaration that omits either does not compile — that, not an allowlist, is the completeness gate. Set projectConfig: true only when repository control is safe; a new flag is otherwise operator-only. Set recorded: true only when a .ad recording must carry the flag.
2. src/commands/cli-grammar/*: read the CLI flag into command input.
3. src/commands/command-projection.ts and command-family projection helpers: write the input into the daemon request only if the flag affects daemon execution.
4. src/commands/*-command-contracts.ts: add to the command input schema only if the option should be available through Node.js or MCP as structured input. An input key that names a credential, an endpoint a credential is sent to, or operator infrastructure declares operatorField(...) (src/commands/command-input.ts), which is what keeps the MCP and AI SDK tool schemas from offering the model a parameter to write it into. One of the shared common keys declares the same audience in its src/commands/common-input-fields.ts row instead.
5. src/client/client-types.ts: update the public typed client option only when the Node.js interface exposes it.
6. src/client/client-normalizers.ts: update daemon flag normalization only when the request still needs a public-to-internal translation.
7. src/daemon/context.ts and src/core/dispatch-context.ts: add the field only when it flows into platform dispatch.
8. Handler/platform modules: thread the option only after the command surface, grammar, and projection prove it belongs there.
9. scripts/integration-progress-model.ts: classify the flag (device-observable vs intentionally-outside). The architecture-progress gate fails CI on unclassified public flags.
10. If the flag changes interaction semantics, revisit the affected cells in packages/contracts/src/interaction-guarantees.ts (scope with appliesTo when the flag exists only on some commands).

Command-only flags (like find --first) that never reach the platform layer usually stop at steps 1-3, plus step 9.

Where CLI help and schema live

• Long help prose: src/cli-schema/cli-help.ts. Flag definitions: src/commands/cli-grammar/.
• Synopsis: src/cli-schema/usage.ts generates the [label] flag tail from allowedFlags, so a new option reaches --help without any synopsis edit. Declare usageFlags on the command only when its synopsis names fewer options: [] for a synopsis that is pure grammar (or writes its own mutually-exclusive brackets), otherwise the subset it names. Command flags: always lists everything in allowedFlags. Keep a cross-cutting opt-in out of every synopsis with usageHidden: true on its flag definition. src/cli-schema/usage.test.ts fails a tail that names an option the command does not accept, or one the hand-written grammar already wrote.
• Command-specific usage/flag metadata lives with the command family metadata that owns the command.
• Parser/help rendering stays in src/cli/parser/; command schema metadata is derived from command metadata, family declarations, and the schema-only merge path in src/cli-schema/command-overrides.ts. Keep the two separate.
• Locating an owner: rg -n "helpDescription|summary|supportedFlags|allowedFlags" src/commands src/cli/parser src/cli-schema.