pixi

Fast cross-platform package manager built on Conda

workhorse Rust prefix-dev/pixi
75% pass rate
3/8 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

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)
PASS Flags advertise env-var bindings in --help
PASS Secret-bearing flags expose stdin or *-file companion
PASS `--help` advertises default values for flags
PASS Rich-TUI affordance for TTY contexts

P2: Structured, Parseable Output

WARN Structured output support --output/--format flag detected but could not validate JSON via safe probes (--help/--version override output flags in most CLIs)
SKIP Structured-output CLI exposes its schema at runtime no structured-output indicator (--output / --format / json / jsonl) in --help
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.
WARN Short `-h` summary differs from `--help` long form `-h` and `--help` produce byte-identical output. SHOULD-tier — clap renders the short summary on `-h` and the full description on `--help` when `long_about` is set; collapsing them gives agents no concise list-level grep target.
FAIL Each subcommand's `--help` ships at least one invocation example subcommands missing example invocations in their `--help`: add, auth, clean, config, exec, global, info, init, import, install, list, lock, reinstall, environment, publish, remove, run, search, shell, shell-hook, task, tree, update, updates, upgrade, file, upload, 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

FAIL Destructive subcommands require `--force` or `--yes` destructive subcommand(s) without `--force` or `--yes`: clean. Irreversible operations must require explicit confirmation so they can't be invoked accidentally.
PASS Read and write surfaces are both visible in subcommand list

P6: Composable, Predictable Command Structure

PASS Handles SIGPIPE gracefully
WARN Pager-using CLI ships --no-pager escape hatch pager referenced in --help but no --no-pager escape hatch advertised
PASS Respects NO_COLOR
WARN Subcommand verbs follow community-standard names 16/30 subcommand(s) follow standard verb names. Non-standard: completion, global, import, lock, reinstall, environment, shell, shell-hook, task, tree, updates, file, upload, 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: 4 non-verb subcommand(s) (config, global, task, 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.
WARN Operations are subcommands, not verb-shaped flags top-level verb-shaped flag(s) found: --list. Operations belong under the `Commands:` block (`tool search "q"`), not on the flag namespace where they fight the `--help` filtering agents rely on.

P7: Bounded, High-Signal Responses

PASS Quiet mode available
PASS `--verbose` flag for diagnostic escalation
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.
WARN `--timeout` flag for long-running operations long-running subcommand present but no timeout flag advertised (looked for --timeout, --deadline, --max-time). SHOULD-tier — without a bound, agents that hit a hung operation have to enforce timeouts externally.
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

Details

Version scored
0.70.0
Audit date
2026-06-01 17:35:33 UTC
Duration
436ms
Platform
linux/x86_64
Mode
command
Anc build
0.5.0
Install
brew install pixi

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