cli

@apd-spec/cli

@apd-spec/cli is the command-line interface for creating, validating, comparing, summarizing, visualizing, and exporting APD procedure definitions and AER receipts.

Install from npm

Install the CLI if you want the apd command:

npm install -g @apd-spec/cli

That installs the stable apd command:

apd init my-procedure.apd.json
apd validate my-procedure.apd.json --strict

If you are working from a local clone of this repo:

npm install
npm run build
node packages/cli/bin/apd.js validate examples/invoice-logging.apd.json

Command overview

apd init <output.apd.json> [--title <title>] [--procedure-id <id>] [--summary <summary>] [--source-type observed|authored|converted|generated] [--force]
apd generate "describe your workflow" [--provider openai|anthropic] [--model <id>] [--output <file.apd.json>] [--title <title>] [--procedure-id <id>] [--force] [--json] [--strict] [--api-key-env <NAME>] [--repair-attempts <n>]
apd validate <file.apd.json> [--json] [--quiet] [--strict]
apd info <file.apd.json> [--json]
apd export <file.apd.json> --format sop-md [--output <file.sop.md>]
apd visualize <file.apd.json> --format mermaid|svg
apd aer validate <file.aer.json> [--json] [--quiet] [--strict]
apd aer info <file.aer.json> [--json]
apd aer compare <file.apd.json> <file.aer.json> [--json]
apd aer seal <file.aer-v0.3.json> [--private-key <pem-or-base64-or-path>] [--public-key <pem-or-base64-or-path>] [--previous-hash <sha256:...>] [--attest-executor] [--output <file>] [--force]
apd aer verify <file.aer.json> [--public-key <pem-or-base64-or-path>] [--json]

Compatibility bridge:

apd-validate <file.apd.json> [--json] [--quiet] [--strict]

validate

apd validate my-procedure.apd.json --strict

Checkout-based example:

node packages/cli/bin/apd.js validate examples/invoice-logging.apd.json

Behavior:

• exit code 0 when the document has no validation errors
• exit code 1 when schema or graph validation errors exist
• --quiet prints nothing and relies on exit code only
• --strict adds best-practice warnings without turning warnings into failures

init

apd init refund-review.apd.json

This creates a strict-clean minimal APD scaffold with a starter action node and terminal node.

generate

apd generate "Review a refund request, approve high-value refunds, then notify the customer" --provider openai --output refund-review.apd.json

This asks an LLM provider to create a validated APD scaffold from a natural-language workflow description. Use --provider openai with OPENAI_API_KEY, or --provider anthropic with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY. To keep secrets out of shell history, the CLI does not accept a literal API key flag; use --api-key-env <NAME> when your key lives in a custom environment variable.

Generated APDs use provenance.source_type: "generated" and mark generated nodes as inferred so reviewers know the scaffold needs review before runtime use.

info

apd info my-procedure.apd.json

This prints the procedure id, start node, node counts, transitions, and a path preview.

Checkout-based example:

apd info examples/invoice-logging.apd.json

export

Print SOP markdown to stdout:

apd export my-procedure.apd.json --format sop-md

Write it to a file:

apd export my-procedure.apd.json --format sop-md --output /tmp/my-procedure.sop.md

The exporter validates the APD first. Invalid APDs fail before any markdown is written.

Checkout-based example:

apd export examples/invoice-logging.apd.json --format sop-md

visualize

apd visualize my-procedure.apd.json --format mermaid
apd visualize my-procedure.apd.json --format svg > /tmp/my-procedure.svg

Checkout-based example:

apd visualize examples/invoice-logging.apd.json --format mermaid

aer validate

apd aer validate my-procedure.aer-v0.2.json --strict

This validates AER v0.1, v0.2, and v0.3 receipts.

Checkout-based example:

apd aer validate examples/invoice-logging.aer-v0.2.json --strict

aer info

apd aer info my-procedure.aer-v0.2.json

This prints the execution id, referenced procedure, outcome, node count, transition count, approval count, and final output keys.

Checkout-based example:

apd aer info examples/invoice-logging.aer-v0.2.json

aer compare

apd aer compare my-procedure.apd.json my-procedure.aer-v0.2.json

This compares an AER v0.2 or v0.3 receipt against the APD contract and reports structured differences.

Checkout-based example:

apd aer compare examples/invoice-logging.apd.json examples/invoice-logging.aer-v0.2.json

aer seal

apd aer seal my-procedure.aer-v0.3.json --private-key adapter.pkcs8.b64 --public-key adapter.spki.b64 --attest-executor

This fills in integrity.chain_hash, optional integrity.previous_chain_hash, optional Ed25519 signature metadata, and optional executor.recorder_attestation for AER v0.3 documents. It writes in place unless --output is provided, and refuses to reseal an existing chain hash unless --force is set.

aer verify

apd aer verify my-procedure.aer-v0.3.json --public-key adapter.spki.b64

This verifies the AER chain hash, signature, and recorder attestation when present. It exits 0 on pass and 1 on failure.

Signed receipts require --public-key from a trusted source. The public key embedded in the AER identifies the claimed signer but is not trusted by the verifier on its own.

Related docs

• ../../docs/getting-started.md
• ../../docs/apd-for-agents.md
• ../../docs/apd-to-sop-example.md
• ../../adapters/sop-md-mapping.md
• ../sdk-typescript/README.md