CLI Reference

grimoire — best practice enforcement for AI assistants. Every top-level command, one line each.

Setup

Command	What it does
`grimoire init`	Initialize `.grimoire/` in the current project
`grimoire install [<grimoire-ref>]`	Install skills from `grimoire.toml` or a grimoire-ref
`grimoire install --target agent`	Install to the generic `agent` target (`~/.agents/skills`) — fallback for any AGENTS.md-reading agent with no dedicated integration
`grimoire install --no-load-optimize`	Skip the per-agent load-performance cap (some agents truncate to top-N skills by default; this installs all of them anyway)
`grimoire uninstall [<grimoire-ref>]`	Remove grimoire skills from agent directories
`grimoire update`	Update all packages to latest
`grimoire clean`	Remove stale grimoire-managed skills from agent directories
`grimoire lock`	Regenerate `grimoire.lock` from the current `grimoire.toml` without installing

Discovery

Command	What it does
`grimoire list`	List available domains, sub-domains, and skills
`grimoire search <query>`	Search installed packages for skills matching a query
`grimoire info <skill>`	Show metadata for an installed skill
`grimoire context`	Show grimoire context for AI assistants

Compliance (BPDD)

Command	What it does
`grimoire check [files/dirs/globs...]`	Run independent AI compliance check
`grimoire status`	Show project compliance health at a glance
`grimoire watch`	Re-run compliance check whenever project files change

grimoire check prints a N passed · N failed · exit N summary, a └─ missing: list of failing criteria per practice, and a diff-style code context block (±3 lines, → marker on the flagged line, file:line header) for each failing diagnostic.

See BPDD for the full methodology behind grimoire check.

Validation

Command	What it does
`grimoire validate [<skill-path>...]`	Validate skill files against the grimoire STANDARD

Not to be confused with grimoire package validate above, which checks a package’s directory structure. grimoire validate lints individual SKILL.md files for STANDARD.md conformance — flags include --strict, --json, --no-duplicates, --test-schema <dir>, and an AI-powered --fix (via a local agent or API key — see --via/--prefer-api).

Diagnostics

Command	What it does
`grimoire doctor`	Run a health check on the grimoire installation
`grimoire wizard`	Open the interactive TUI wizard
`grimoire version`	Show grimoire version information
`grimoire self-update`	Update the grimoire CLI binary to the latest release

Configuration

Command	What it does
`grimoire config`	Get or set grimoire configuration values
`grimoire config get <key>`	Print a config value and its source
`grimoire config set <key> <value>`	Set a config value
`grimoire config unset <key>`	Clear a config value
`grimoire config add <key> <value>`	Append a value to a list config key (idempotent)
`grimoire config remove <key> <value>`	Remove a value from a list config key
`grimoire config show`	Show resolved grimoire config for the current project — see Config
`grimoire config show --domain <prefix>`	Show only sections matching this domain prefix
`grimoire config show --json`	Output the resolved config as JSON

Profiles

Command	What it does
`grimoire profile`	Manage grimoire profiles
`grimoire profile list`	List available profiles
`grimoire profile show <name>`	Show skills in a named profile
`grimoire profile init <name>`	Create a profile file in `.grimoire/profiles/`

See Practice Profiles for how profiles resolve.

Packages

Command	What it does
`grimoire package`	Manage grimoire skill packages
`grimoire package list`	List all configured packages
`grimoire package set <grimoire-ref>`	Set the official package URL (`owner/repo[@version]` or full URL)
`grimoire package reset`	Clear `core.package` (revert to built-in default)
`grimoire package add <name> <grimoire-ref>`	Add a named package and clone it
`grimoire package remove <name>`	Remove a package by name
`grimoire package enable <name>`	Enable a previously disabled package
`grimoire package disable <name>`	Disable a package without removing it
`grimoire package update [<name>]`	Pull latest from all (or one named) package
`grimoire package validate [<path-or-name>]`	Validate a package’s structure (for package authors)
`grimoire package publish`	Guide for publishing a grimoire package to the community

Authoring

Command	What it does
`grimoire generate <type> <name>`	Scaffold grimoire artifacts (skill, profile)

MCP server

Command	What it does
`grimoire mcp`	MCP server integration
`grimoire mcp serve`	Start the grimoire MCP server (stdio transport)
`grimoire mcp config`	Print MCP configuration snippet for an AI assistant

grimoire mcp serve exposes the CLI as MCP tools, so an AI assistant can call grimoire natively without slash commands, including grimoire_search_skills (BM25-ranked skill search, with hyphen/underscore token expansion) and grimoire_get_skill (fetch one skill’s full SKILL.md on demand). Every install also writes a _GRIMOIRE_INDEX.md alongside the skill symlinks, so an agent can discover what’s available without scanning every SKILL.md.

Editor Integration

Command	What it does
`grimoire lsp`	Start the grimoire Language Server (LSP) for editor integration

Runs over stdio and pushes grimoire check diagnostics into your editor on save — supports Neovim, VS Code, and Helix.

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Maintaining grimoire

Config