Work commands

Commands for daily work inside a project. Run them from any folder below the project’s top. In a project that adopted Xaden they run the installed Xaden version that xaden/xaden.conf pins.

`xaden prompt`

Prints a task prompt for your assistant to follow.

xaden prompt <name>

<name> is one of kickoff, feature, bugfix, refactor, code-review, security-review, release, requirements-update, persona or documentation. A file of the same name in xaden/prompts/ replaces the default. An unknown name is an error.

Guide: Build features.

`xaden req`

Looks up and creates requirements.

xaden req list
xaden req show REQ-nnn
xaden req new <epic> <job|quality> "<title>"
xaden req index

Subcommand	Meaning
`list`	One line per requirement: ID, status, priority, title.
`show REQ-nnn`	The file of one requirement.
`new <epic> <job\|quality> "<title>"`	Creates the next requirement as a draft and refreshes the index. The epic is lowercase words with hyphens.
`index`	Rewrites the generated `INDEX.md`.

`xaden check`

Runs the project’s checks.

xaden check [--staged] [--strict]

Option	Meaning
(none)	The full run: all files, the commands in `xaden.conf`, requirements, traceability, secret scan and workflow lint.
`--staged`	The pre-commit subset: staged files only, offline.
`--strict`	A missing tool is a failure instead of a skipped check. CI uses it.

Every run ends with a summary of passed, failed and skipped checks. A run with skipped checks ends with a warning. How findings are judged is set by the mode; see Configuration.

Exit status: 0 no check failed (skips included, with a warning); 1 a check failed.

`xaden persona`

Creates a user persona from the template.

xaden persona new "<name>"

The name is one line of at most 60 characters without /, \, & or :. Prints the path of the new file. Three to five personas keep the checks focused.

`xaden context`

Prints the rule IDs, the number of requirements by status, and the CONTEXT CHECK fingerprint that an assistant quotes in its first reply.

xaden context

`xaden release`

Cuts a release: checks, stamps VERSION and CHANGELOG.md, commits and tags locally. It never pushes.

xaden release <major|minor|patch>

Needs a clean working tree, a VERSION file and a CHANGELOG.md with an Unreleased section. It refuses to continue while a check fails, a required tool is missing, or a requirement, SECURITY.md or xaden/threat-model.md has an unfilled TODO marker. A failed step restores the files.

Guide: Release a version.

`xaden doc`

Prints a guide that Xaden ships.

xaden doc <clean-code|security|optional-tools|local-llm>

`xaden preset`

Adds Xaden’s preset for a stack to an adopted project.

xaden preset <python|node>

Writes the preset’s configuration files at the repository root (never over a file you have), maps the check commands in xaden/xaden.conf and prints the command that installs the tools. Python: ruff.toml, mypy.ini, requirements-dev.txt. Node: eslint.config.mjs.

Guide: Check modes and baselines.