CLI Usage

erode provides four commands for working with architecture models and analyzing change requests.

Installation

erode is not yet published as an npm package. Clone the repository and build from source:

git clone https://github.com/erode-app/core.git
cd core
npm install && npm run build

The built CLI is at packages/cli/dist/cli.js. Run it with Node.js:

node packages/cli/dist/cli.js --help

Interactive mode

When run without arguments in an interactive terminal, erode starts an Ink-based wizard that guides you through command selection and option entry.

Commands

`analyze <model-path>`

Analyze a change request for architecture drift.

erode analyze ./model --url https://github.com/org/repo/pull/42
erode analyze ./model --url https://gitlab.com/group/project/-/merge_requests/42
erode analyze ./model --url https://bitbucket.org/workspace/repo/pull-requests/42

Flag	Description	Default
`--url <url>`	Change request URL (GitHub PR, GitLab MR, or Bitbucket PR). Required.
`--model-format <fmt>`	Architecture model format	`likec4`
`--format <fmt>`	Output format: `console`, `json`	`console`
`--generate-model`	Generate architecture model code from the analysis
`--open-pr`	Create a PR with suggested model updates
`--dry-run`	Preview without creating a PR
`--draft`	Create change request as draft	`true`
`--output-file <path>`	Write structured JSON output to a file
`--skip-file-filtering`	Analyze all changed files (skip pattern-based filtering)
`--comment`	Post analysis results as a PR/MR comment
`--github-actions`	Write GitHub Actions outputs and step summary
`--fail-on-violations`	Exit with code 1 when violations are found

`components <model-path>`

List components from an architecture model.

erode components ./model
erode components ./model --format json

Flag	Description	Default
`--model-format <fmt>`	Architecture model format	`likec4`
`--format <fmt>`	Output format: `table`, `json`, `yaml`	`table`

`connections <model-path>`

Show component connections from an architecture model.

erode connections ./model --repo https://github.com/org/repo
erode connections ./model --repo https://gitlab.com/group/project

Flag	Description	Default
`--repo <url>`	Repository URL. Required.
`--model-format <fmt>`	Architecture model format	`likec4`
`--output <fmt>`	Output format: `console`, `json`	`console`

`validate <model-path>`

Check that all components in an architecture model have repository links.

erode validate ./model
erode validate ./model --format json

Flag	Description	Default
`--model-format <fmt>`	Architecture model format	`likec4`
`--format <fmt>`	Output format: `table`, `json`	`table`

Exits with code 1 if any components are missing repository links.

Environment variables

Set these before running any command:

Variable	Description
`GITHUB_TOKEN`	Required for GitHub PRs. See Configuration for required permissions.
`GITLAB_TOKEN`	Required for GitLab MRs. Requires `api` scope.
`BITBUCKET_TOKEN`	Required for Bitbucket PRs. See Configuration for required permissions.
`GEMINI_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY`, or `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	API key for your chosen AI provider.
`AI_PROVIDER`	`gemini` (default), `openai`, or `anthropic`.

See Configuration for the full list of environment variables including diff limits, timeouts, and model overrides.

Example

export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_..."
export GEMINI_API_KEY="AIza..."

node packages/cli/dist/cli.js analyze ./architecture \
  --url https://github.com/acme/backend/pull/42 \
  --comment \
  --fail-on-violations