Skill: Add a New CLI Subcommand

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to add a new subcommand to the dotcontext CLI (e.g., dotcontext status, dotcontext validate).

Prerequisites

• Understanding of bash scripting
• Familiarity with the existing command structure in dotcontext

Steps

1. Define the command function

Add a new function in the dotcontext script. Follow the naming convention cmd_<name>:

cmd_status() {
    print_header "Status"

    # Command implementation here

    print_green "✓ Status check complete"
}

2. Add to the command router

Find the case statement in main() and add your command:

case "$1" in
    init)
        shift
        cmd_init "$@"
        ;;
    status)  # Add new case
        shift
        cmd_status "$@"
        ;;
    # ... other commands
esac

3. Add help text

Update the show_help() function:

show_help() {
    echo "Usage: dotcontext <command> [options]"
    echo ""
    echo "Commands:"
    echo "  init          Initialize context structure"
    echo "  status        Check context health"  # Add new line
    # ...
}

4. Handle arguments

Parse command-specific flags:

cmd_status() {
    local verbose=false

    while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
        case "$1" in
            -v|--verbose)
                verbose=true
                shift
                ;;
            *)
                print_red "Unknown option: $1"
                exit 1
                ;;
        esac
    done

    # Use $verbose in implementation
}

5. Use helper functions

Leverage existing helpers for consistent output:

# Colors
print_green "Success message"
print_yellow "Warning message"
print_red "Error message"
print_blue "Info message"

# Prompts
if prompt_yes_no "Continue?"; then
    # User said yes
fi

# File operations
download_file "$url" "$dest"

6. Test on multiple platforms

Test your command on:

• macOS (bash 3.2)
• Linux (bash 5.x)
• WSL (if applicable)

Anti-Patterns

• Don't use bashisms - Avoid [[ ]], $'...', arrays (use POSIX [ ], quoted strings)
• Don't hardcode paths - Use variables like $CONTEXT_DIR
• Don't skip error handling - Check file existence, command success
• Don't output without color helpers - Use print_* functions for consistency

Example

From the existing cmd_update function:

cmd_update() {
    local update_templates=false
    local force=false

    while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
        case "$1" in
            --templates) update_templates=true; shift ;;
            --force) force=true; shift ;;
            *) shift ;;
        esac
    done

    if [ "$update_templates" = true ]; then
        cmd_update_templates "$force"
    else
        cmd_update_cli
    fi
}

Related

• ADR-001: Single bash executable
• Critical Rule: POSIX compatibility