jj
A Git-compatible VCS that is both simple and powerful
75%
pass rate
2/8
principles met
Spec Coverage
How many of the spec's requirements were verified for this tool. See /coverage for the full matrix.
| Level | Total | Verified | Unverified |
|---|---|---|---|
| MUST | 28 | 19 | 9 |
| SHOULD | 21 | 13 | 8 |
| MAY | 10 | 10 | 0 |
Top Issues
- FAIL Each subcommand's `--help` ships at least one invocation example Progressive Help Discovery subcommands missing example invocations in their `--help`: abandon, absorb, arrange, bisect, bookmark, commit, config, describe, diff, diffedit, duplicate, edit, evolog, file, gerrit, git, log, operation, redo, resolve, restore, revert, root, show, sign, simplify-parents, sparse, squash, status, tag, undo, unsign, util, version, workspace. Examples teach agents the call shape faster than option tables; use clap's `after_help` or a dedicated `Examples:` block.
- WARN Flags advertise env-var bindings in --help Non-Interactive by Default 14 flag(s) found in --help but no `[env: NAME]` bindings advertised
- WARN --json / --jsonl short aliases for --output Structured, Parseable Output no --json or --jsonl short alias found. Agents and pipelines benefit from short forms alongside the canonical `--output` enum.
All Audits
P1: Non-Interactive by Default
| PASS | Non-interactive by default | |
| SKIP | Non-interactive gate flag advertised in --help | target satisfies P1 via alternative gate (help-on-bare or stdin-primary) |
| WARN | Flags advertise env-var bindings in --help | 14 flag(s) found in --help but no `[env: NAME]` bindings advertised |
| PASS | Secret-bearing flags expose stdin or *-file companion | |
| WARN | `--help` advertises default values for flags | no default-value annotations found in --help. SHOULD-tier — agents reading help text need to see what value a flag falls back to when omitted (`[default: <value>]` per clap convention). |
| PASS | Rich-TUI affordance for TTY contexts |
P2: Structured, Parseable Output
| OPT-OUT | Structured output support | no --output/--format flag detected in any subcommand — tool does not ship structured output. |
| N/A | Structured-output CLI exposes its schema at runtime | antecedent `p2-json-output` is opt_out: no --output/--format flag detected in any subcommand — tool does not ship structured output. |
| WARN | --json / --jsonl short aliases for --output | no --json or --jsonl short alias found. Agents and pipelines benefit from short forms alongside the canonical `--output` enum. |
| WARN | `--raw` flag for pipe-safe unformatted output | no `--raw` flag advertised. MAY-tier — useful for pipelines that want to strip formatting before piping to other tools. |
| SKIP | `--output` advertises additional formats beyond text/json | no `--output` or `--format` flag advertised; vacuous skip for MAY-tier extra formats. |
| PASS | Bad invocation exits with structured usage-error code (2) | |
| SKIP | Errors emit JSON envelope with `error`/`kind`/`message` under `--output json` | binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; MUST applies only to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract. |
| SKIP | JSON success and error envelopes share their non-payload key set | binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; envelope-consistency only applies to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract. |
P3: Progressive Help Discovery
| PASS | Help flag produces useful output | |
| PASS | Version flag works (`--version` plus short alias) | |
| PASS | Version flag works (`--version` plus short alias) | |
| WARN | `examples` subcommand or `--examples` flag for curated usage patterns | no `examples` subcommand or `--examples` flag found. MAY-tier — a curated usage block keeps agents from hunting through long help text. |
| PASS | Short `-h` summary differs from `--help` long form | |
| FAIL | Each subcommand's `--help` ships at least one invocation example | subcommands missing example invocations in their `--help`: abandon, absorb, arrange, bisect, bookmark, commit, config, describe, diff, diffedit, duplicate, edit, evolog, file, gerrit, git, log, operation, redo, resolve, restore, revert, root, show, sign, simplify-parents, sparse, squash, status, tag, undo, unsign, util, version, workspace. Examples teach agents the call shape faster than option tables; use clap's `after_help` or a dedicated `Examples:` block. |
| WARN | Help text pairs human and `--output json` example invocations | no paired text + `--output json` example found within 5 lines in top-level or any subcommand `--help`. Pairing keeps agents from reverse-engineering the JSON invocation from the text one. |
P4: Fail-Fast, Actionable Errors
| PASS | Rejects invalid arguments | |
| PASS | Error messages include a hint or remediation phrase | |
| SKIP | `--output json` produces JSON-formatted errors | binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; SHOULD applies only to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract. |
P5: Safe Retries & Mutation Boundaries
| SKIP | Destructive subcommands require `--force` or `--yes` | no destructive subcommands detected; MUST applies conditionally to CLIs with destructive operations. |
| WARN | Read and write surfaces are both visible in subcommand list | read-pattern subcommand(s) present (show) but no write-pattern surface detected. If the CLI is read-only by design the MUST is satisfied vacuously; otherwise the write surface needs an agent-recognizable verb (create/add/update/set/delete/…). |
P6: Composable, Predictable Command Structure
| PASS | Handles SIGPIPE gracefully | |
| PASS | Pager-using CLI ships --no-pager escape hatch | |
| PASS | Respects NO_COLOR | |
| WARN | Subcommand verbs follow community-standard names | 7/45 subcommand(s) follow standard verb names. Non-standard: abandon, absorb, arrange, bisect, bookmark, commit, diffedit, duplicate, edit, evolog, file, fix, gerrit, git, interdiff, log, metaedit, new, next, operation, parallelize, prev, rebase, redo, resolve, restore, revert, root, sign, simplify-parents, sparse, split, squash, tag, undo, unsign, util, workspace. MAY-tier — community-standard verbs (get/list/create/update/delete) help agents predict subcommand behavior across CLIs. |
| PASS | `--color` flag for explicit color control | |
| SKIP | Input-accepting commands read from stdin when no file is given | no input-accepting subcommand detected (process/parse/convert/transform/analyze/validate/format/lint/audit); vacuous skip for the conditional SHOULD. |
| WARN | Subcommand naming follows a consistent verb/noun convention | subcommand naming is inconsistent: 7 non-verb subcommand(s) (bookmark, config, file, git, operation, sparse, workspace) mix verb and non-verb children at the second level, so an agent cannot predict where the action lives. SHOULD-tier: pick a consistent shape (all verb-first, all noun-verb hierarchy, or any combination where each non-verb group's children are uniformly verbs). The verb list is a heuristic; inspect `--help` to confirm. |
| PASS | Operations are subcommands, not verb-shaped flags |
P7: Bounded, High-Signal Responses
| PASS | Quiet mode available | |
| WARN | `--verbose` flag for diagnostic escalation | no `--verbose` / `-v` flag advertised. SHOULD-tier — agents debugging failures need a way to escalate diagnostic detail. |
| WARN | `--limit` / `--max-results` flag for list operations | list-style subcommand present but no limit flag advertised (looked for --limit, --max-results, --max, --top, -n). SHOULD-tier — callers should be able to bound response size directly rather than scrape-then-truncate. |
| WARN | Cursor-based pagination flags for list traversal | list-style subcommand present but no cursor/page flag advertised (looked for --after, --before, --cursor, --page, --offset). MAY-tier — cursor pagination lets agents traverse large result sets without re-scanning earlier pages. |
| SKIP | `--timeout` flag for long-running operations | no long-running subcommand detected (serve/daemon/watch/tail/monitor/follow/run/start/stream); vacuous skip for the conditional SHOULD. |
| WARN | Help text advertises TTY-aware verbosity behavior | no TTY-aware language found in `--help`. MAY-tier — automatic verbosity reduction when stdout is piped or redirected lets agents skip the explicit `--quiet` flag. Behavioral probes cannot simulate a real TTY without a pty crate, so this audit relies on documented intent. |
P8: Discoverable Through Agent Skill Bundles
| PASS | Skill bundle has install path (`tool skill install [<host>]`) | |
| PASS | `skill install --all` for multi-runtime install | |
| PASS | `skill update` / `skill upgrade` for bundle refresh |
Reproduce this scorecard for jj locally and inspect the failing audits:
anc audit --command jj --output json
Install anc first if you don't have it.
Add --output json to get the same JSON shape committed under
scorecards/.