CTS Schema Reference

CTS.manifest.toml

The standard manifest for CTS itself.

[standard]
id = "cts"
title = "Command Tool Standard"
abbreviation = "CTS"
status = "active"
maturity = "candidate"
version = "0.2.1"
description = "Governs CLI tools, command contracts, output schemas, exit codes, automation compatibility, and release verification."

[governance]
meta_standard = "SFDS"
workspace_standard = "WGS"
scope = "Command-line tools, automation utilities, command contracts, output streams, exit codes, and destructive command safety."
non_goals = ["Desktop GUI release packaging", "website deployment", "dataset provenance"]

[artifacts]
specification = "Command Tool Standard.md"
schema = "CommandOutput.schema.json"
templates = "templates"
examples = "examples"
adoption_guide = "Adoption-Guide.md"
validation_checklist = "Validation-Checklist.md"
changelog = "CHANGELOG.md"
validators = []
governance_notes = []
reference_examples = ["examples/CTS-Suite-Map.md", "examples/Manifest-Audit-Command-Contract.md"]

[adopter_artifacts]
schemas = ["CommandOutput.schema.json"]
manifest_templates = []
document_templates = [
  "templates/Command-Contract.md",
  "templates/CLI-Release-Checklist.md"
]

[lifecycle]
created = "2026-06-10"
last_updated = "2026-06-11"
maintainer = "Herb"

[agent]
read_first = ["README.md", "Command Tool Standard.md", "CTS.manifest.toml"]
notes = "Use CTS for ArchiveHasher, AnalyzeProjects, ScriptWriters, LangThemeGenerator, CloneCratesio, ClipboardFilter, and Llama tooling."

• [standard] identifies CTS at candidate maturity, v0.2.1.
• [governance] records the meta-standard (SFDS), workspace standard (WGS), scope, and non-goals.
• [artifacts] indexes the specification, the JSON output schema, templates, examples, and reference examples.
• [adopter_artifacts] lists what a CLI project adopting CTS actually uses: the CommandOutput.schema.json envelope and the two document templates. CTS has no manifest template of its own — adopters use the shared Aptlantis entity-manifest shape (see the PPS or DRS schema references for that v2.4 shape).
• [agent] names known CTS-governed tools in the workspace: ArchiveHasher, AnalyzeProjects, ScriptWriters, LangThemeGenerator, CloneCratesio, ClipboardFilter, and Llama tooling.

CommandOutput.schema.json

The reusable JSON output envelope for CTS-governed command tools that emit machine-readable output.

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "https://aptlantis.local/schemas/cts/command-output.schema.json",
  "title": "CTS Command Output Envelope",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["status", "tool", "version"],
  "properties": {
    "status": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["ok", "warning", "error"]
    },
    "tool": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 1
    },
    "version": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 1
    },
    "data": {
      "description": "Command-specific result payload."
    },
    "warnings": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": { "type": "string" }
    },
    "errors": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": ["code", "message"],
        "properties": {
          "code": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
          "message": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
          "path": { "type": "string" },
          "details": {}
        },
        "additionalProperties": true
      }
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": true
}

• status, tool, and version are required on every response — a script can always check these three fields first.
• data carries the command-specific payload; its stable sub-fields must be documented in the command's contract.
• warnings is a flat array of strings for non-fatal findings.
• errors is an array of structured error objects, each requiring a code and a message, with optional path and free-form details.
• additionalProperties: true at both the top level and inside error objects — the envelope is intentionally extensible; new fields can be added without breaking existing consumers, but removing or retyping a documented field is a breaking change per the CTS breaking-change rules.