CLI Reference
The dams CLI orchestrates the full lifecycle: init, capture, compile, verify, discover, and automate.
Project lifecycle
| Command | Description |
|---|
dams new <name> --lang python --from-prd prd.md | Create project, atomize PRD, init DAMS |
dams init | Initialize DAMS in an existing project (prompts for steering file name) |
dams atomize <prd> --clear | AI PRD decomposition (tasks + schema design) |
dams recompile | Compile wiki → steering file with freshness score |
dams end "notes" | Log session, regenerate steering file |
Knowledge capture
| Command | Description |
|---|
dams decide "Title" --files X,Y --why "..." | Create a decision (ADR) |
dams contract "Rule" --files X --severity critical | Add a safety contract |
dams trap "Cause" --fix "..." --file X --test path | Create a regression trap |
dams issue "Desc" --severity high | Log an active issue |
dams next "Task" --ref TASK-ID | Set next priority (warms cache) |
Task management
| Command | Description |
|---|
dams tasks [--status pending] [--priority high] | Show task tree, filterable |
dams task <id> | Full task details |
dams task-execute <id> --copy | Extract/copy agent execution prompt |
dams task-done <id> | Mark complete (or auto from commit) |
dams task-generate "Feature" | LLM-generate a new task |
dams import-tasks <file.json> | Offline import tasks from Web UI JSON |
dams status | One-glance project progress |
Verification
| Command | Description |
|---|
dams check | Safety gate against tracked files (pre-commit) |
dams check --fix | Auto-heal structural violations via GritQL |
dams doctor | Drift detection (orphans, staleness, contradictions) |
dams dsl-validate|dsl-compile <file> | Validate/compile Safety DSL → GritQL |
Discovery
| Command | Description |
|---|
dams index [--watch] | Full / continuous Chunkhound index |
dams search "q" --hybrid|--semantic|--regex | Hybrid / semantic / regex search |
dams ripple <function> | What calls this? (Graphify/CodeGraph) |
dams callers <file> | Who imports/calls this file? |
dams graphify [build|--query|--explain] | Knowledge graph operations |
Automation & ops
| Command | Description |
|---|
scripts/dams-auto.sh TASK-020 | End-to-end task automation loop (prep→branch→code→test→merge) |
dams sync-push|sync-pull <remote> | Multi-machine context sync |
dams export-context|import-context | Cross-project context sharing |
dams health|hot|prune|config | Stack health, hot files, cleanup, config |
dams plugin-*|skill-*|docs-* | Plugins, skills, doc fetching |
dams mcp | Start the DAMS MCP server (stdio) |