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Jolter is a native Rust CLI with no resident daemon. It combines project requirement resolution, verified installation, filesystem-backed activation, plugins, and command shims in one workspace.

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Design principles

  • Project declarations are portable and belong in source control.
  • Installed toolchains are rebuildable machine state.
  • Network artifacts remain untrusted until verified.
  • Publication is atomic and exact-version operations are lock-coordinated.
  • Shims resolve on command invocation.
  • Diagnostics are non-destructive and provide remediation.
  • Human output and machine output share behavior but not presentation.

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Workspace boundaries

CrateOwns
cliArgument parsing, output rendering, shell instructions, CI adaptation, completions, and process launch
coreOrchestration for use, pin, update, sync, repair, lifecycle, plugins, and diagnostics
configStrict project schema, upward discovery, validation, and atomic writes
runtimeRuntime and tool identifiers, request parsing, selectors, and hashes
installerProvider metadata, HTTP, retry, cache, integrity, extraction, locking, and publication
pluginRegistry resolution, plugin release manifests, WASM verification, and plugin execution
resolverProject-source precedence and normalized requirements
shimShim generation and command-to-installation selection
doctorStorage, project, installation, command-routing, network, cache, and plugin checks
storageDirectory layout, inventory, activation, plugins, and filesystem statistics

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Command flow

  1. Parse global output controls and subcommand.
  2. Discover JOLTER_HOME and create base layout.
  3. Construct installer, plugin, and orchestration services.
  4. Resolve project or direct-request inputs.
  5. Perform installation, activation, or inspection.
  6. Refresh shims when command routing changes.
  7. Render a final result or machine payload.
Individual exact-version publication is atomic. Multi-target orchestration is restartable rather than globally transactional.

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Shim dispatch

Shims are copies of the Jolter shim executable under supported command names. At startup, Jolter checks the invocation filename before normal CLI parsing. Runtime dispatch resolves a project installation, falls back to global activation, verifies the executable, and launches it. Tool dispatch resolves the selected Node.js runtime, resolves a built-in or plugin tool where applicable, falls back to bundled npm/npx when applicable, and launches the selected entry point. Missing versions fail explicitly. Shim dispatch does not perform downloads.

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Plugin architecture

Plugins are WASM components loaded through the plugin crate. Installed plugin manifests declare provided tool commands. Sync and use operations resolve plugin tool releases, install verified archives, and refresh shims. Plugin command execution is intentionally constrained. The release manifest is verified before installation, and command execution permissions are rejected.

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Output architecture

Core and installer operations emit structured progress events. The CLI renderer chooses interactive progress, line-oriented events, quiet mode, or JSON-safe output. Final results go to standard output. Progress and failures go to standard error.

Related topics

CI automationGitLab CIOffline CIStorage