CLI reference

One binary, muster. The persona layer has four commands (check, resolve, cts run, behave run); each other layer has one run command. The global flags and exit codes below apply everywhere.

From a source checkout, replace muster with node dist/cli/index.js.

Global flags

Flag	Default	Meaning
`--mode <strict\|permissive>`	`strict`	Conformance mode.
`--json`	off	Machine-readable output on stdout; logs on stderr.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	conforming, or all cases passed
`1`	violations found, or at least one case failed
`2`	execution error (unreadable file, bad manifest, endpoint down)

Persona (Soul.md)

`muster check <soul.md>`

Static conformance of one document. Emits a §25.1 report. Never touches the network.

muster check examples/soul/Soul.md
muster check examples/soul/Soul.md --json --mode permissive
muster check examples/soul/Soul.md --profile concise --state cold_strict

Options: --profile <name>, --state <name>, --restrict-refs [dir] (confine §7.2 reference loading; see Reference resolution), and --adapter <rfc1|heartbeat|a2a> to statically lint a heartbeat or A2A file instead of a Soul.md.

`muster resolve <soul.md>`

Prints the effective configuration after full §7.5 resolution.

muster resolve examples/soul/Soul.md --output-format canonical-json

Options: --profile, --state, --restrict-refs [dir], and --output-format <canonical-json|json|yaml> (default canonical-json, the byte-stable RFC 8785 form CTS-1 compares against).

`muster cts run <manifest.yaml>`

Runs a CTS-1 fixture suite (Appendix F manifest). Reports per-case PASS/FAIL and an aggregate.

muster cts run examples/cts/manifest.yaml
muster cts run examples/cts/manifest.yaml --filter 'merge_*'

Options: --filter <glob> (matches case ids).

`muster behave run <manifest.yaml>`

Behavioral conformance against an OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Emits per-case verdicts, with full transcripts under --json.

muster behave run examples/behave/manifest.yaml
muster behave run examples/behave/manifest.yaml \
  --base-url https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1 \
  --model meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct --runs 3

Options: --base-url <url>, --model <name>, --temperature <t>, --runs <n>. The API key comes only from MUSTER_API_KEY (fallback OPENAI_API_KEY). There is deliberately no key flag.

Adapter layers

Each adapter layer has a single run command that takes a manifest. Static cases always run offline. Behavioral cases run only when the relevant endpoint variable is set, and are skipped (not failed) otherwise. See The layers for what each one checks.

`muster skills run <manifest.yaml>`

Lints SKILL.md front matter, layout, and bundled-file safety; runs trigger-routing conformance when MUSTER_ENDPOINT is set.

muster skills run examples/skills/manifest.yaml

`muster sop run <manifest.yaml>`

Lints an AGENTS.md SOP for rule-text presence, precedence, and tool drift; runs compliance and adversarial probes when MUSTER_ENDPOINT is set. (The adapter is named openclaw-sop internally.)

muster sop run examples/sop/manifest.yaml

`muster tools run <manifest.json>`

Lints a TOOLS.md manifest and checks it against an environment descriptor; runs tool-selection probes when MUSTER_ENDPOINT is set. A case may set expect: "fail" for a negative test.

muster tools run examples/tools/manifest.json

`muster memory run <manifest.json>`

Lints MEMORY.md / USER.md for staleness and contradiction. Add --behavioral for recall and privacy probes.

muster memory run examples/memory/manifest.json
muster memory run examples/memory/manifest.json --behavioral \
  --base-url http://localhost:11434/v1 --model llama3.2

Options: --behavioral, --base-url <url> (default http://localhost:11434/v1), --model <name> (default llama3.2).

`muster heartbeat run <manifest.json>`

Lints a HEARTBEAT.md and its interval config; runs action-diff, idempotency, and quiet-ack probes when MUSTER_ENDPOINT is set (MUSTER_MODEL defaults to gpt-4o-mini).

muster heartbeat run examples/heartbeat/manifest.json
MUSTER_ENDPOINT=https://api.openai.com/v1 muster heartbeat run examples/heartbeat/manifest.json

`muster a2a run <manifest.json>`

Lints an A2A agent card and verifies signatures offline; runs live skill, auth-negative, and signed-card checks when MUSTER_A2A_ENDPOINT is set.

muster a2a run examples/a2a/manifest.json
MUSTER_A2A_ENDPOINT=https://my-agent.example.com muster a2a run examples/a2a/manifest.json

A2A uses its own environment namespace: MUSTER_A2A_ENDPOINT, MUSTER_A2A_TOKEN (authorized leg of the auth probe), and MUSTER_A2A_TIMEOUT_MS (default 10000). It never reads the variables the other layers use.

`muster crosslayer run <manifest.yaml>`

Checks composition, precedence, and rule survival across a layer stack. Static cases always run; behavioral rule-survival cases use MUSTER_ENDPOINT or an endpoint block in the manifest.

muster crosslayer run examples/crosslayer/manifest.yaml --static-only
MUSTER_ENDPOINT=https://api.openai.com/v1 muster crosslayer run examples/crosslayer/manifest.yaml

Options: --static-only (skip behavioral cases without an endpoint).

Environment variables

Variable	Used by	Meaning
`MUSTER_API_KEY` (fallback `OPENAI_API_KEY`)	all behavioral layers	API key, read at request time.
`MUSTER_ENDPOINT`	skills, sop, tools, heartbeat, crosslayer	OpenAI-compatible base URL.
`MUSTER_MODEL`	skills, sop, tools, heartbeat, crosslayer	Model name (default `gpt-4o-mini`).
`MUSTER_A2A_ENDPOINT`	a2a	Deployed A2A agent base URL.
`MUSTER_A2A_TOKEN`	a2a	Bearer token for the authorized auth probe.
`MUSTER_A2A_TIMEOUT_MS`	a2a	Request timeout in ms (default `10000`).