Install

The specline CLI validates with check, scaffolds with init, and serves its bundled canon offline.

Run from source

Use Node 22.18 or newer — it runs the TypeScript source directly. Install the one runtime dependency (yaml) in the CLI subtree:

git clone https://github.com/speclinedev/specline
cd specline/cli
npm ci
node src/cli/index.ts check ~/path/to/repo --format human

Put specline on your PATH

Typing the full node invocation gets old fast. Two lines fix it — a wrapper that makes specline work from any directory:

#!/bin/sh
exec node /abs/path/to/cli/src/cli/index.ts "$@"

Then chmod +x ~/.local/bin/specline (ensure ~/.local/bin is on your PATH). The canon path resolves relative to the source, so it works from anywhere.

Standalone executable

The repository's release assets provide Linux x64 and macOS arm64/x64 executables, all cross-compiled on a Linux runner. Download the matching specline-* asset, mark it executable, and place it on your PATH as specline. It embeds the canon and needs no Node installation. For a local build, run npm run build in cli/ with Bun installed — Bun is only needed to compile the binary, not to run it.

The composite GitHub Action installs its own dependencies on the runner it executes on — it needs neither Node nor Bun pre-installed on your workflow.

Check that it works

specline check .          # validate the current repo
specline rules             # list the rule catalog
specline spec | head       # print the pinned canon

Next: the CLI reference, or wire it in as an MCP tool.