MechCrate CLI Quick Reference

Build Commands

# Build all (debug)
cargo build

# Build all (release)
cargo build --release

# Build specific crate
cargo build -p mx-cli
cargo build -p mx-mcp-server
cargo build -p mx-lib

# Watch and rebuild
cargo watch -x 'build -p mx-cli'

Test Commands

# All tests
cargo test

# Specific crate
cargo test -p mx-lib

# With output
cargo test -- --nocapture

Quality Commands

# Format
cargo fmt

# Lint
cargo clippy

# All checks
cargo fmt && cargo clippy && cargo test

Binaries

Binary	Location	Purpose
mx	target/release/mx	Main CLI
mx-mcp	target/release/mx-mcp	MCP server for AI agents

Crate Structure

crates/
├── mx-lib/          # Shared library (use from CLI and MCP)
├── mx-cli/          # CLI commands
└── mx-mcp-server/   # MCP JSON-RPC server

Adding a Command (Checklist)

1. Create crates/mx-cli/src/commands/mycommand.rs
2. Add pub mod mycommand; to commands/mod.rs
3. Add import in main.rs
4. Add variant to Commands enum
5. Add handler in match cli.command
6. Build and test: cargo build -p mx-cli && ./target/debug/mx mycommand --help

Adding an MCP Tool (Checklist)

1. Add logic to mx-lib if needed
2. Add ToolHandler::MyTool variant in tools/mod.rs
3. Add ToolDefinition in register_tools()
4. Add execute handler in execute_tool()
5. Build and test: cargo build -p mx-mcp-server

Key Imports

// CLI commands
use anyhow::Result;
use clap::Args;
use console::style;
use dialoguer::{Select, Input, Confirm};

// Shared library
use mx_lib::{templates_dir, is_initialized, home_dir};
use mx_lib::recipe::RecipeInstaller;
use mx_lib::project::ProjectDetector;

Debug Logging

RUST_LOG=debug mx doctor
RUST_LOG=mx_lib=trace mx new my-project

Path Resolution Priority

1. MECH_CRATE_ROOT env var
2. ~/.mech-crate/templates
3. Relative to executable

Installation Workflow

# 1. Build
cargo build --release

# 2. Initialize (copies templates to ~/.mech-crate)
# MECH_CRATE_ROOT only needed for first init from dev environment
MECH_CRATE_ROOT=$(pwd) ./target/release/mx init

# 3. Use anywhere - no env vars needed!
./target/release/mx recipes list
./target/release/mx doctor
./target/release/mx new my-project

Common Commands

mx init                  # Install MechCrate templates
mx init --update         # Update templates (keep config)
mx doctor                # Check system health
mx recipes list          # List available recipes
mx new myproject         # Create new project
mx add api --recipe rust-api  # Add service with recipe
mx router install        # Install global Traefik
mx router up             # Start router
mx mcp build             # Build MCP server
mx rag ingest            # Ingest docs/development into the techniques corpus
mx upgrade --dry-run     # Preview project upgrade