CLI Reference
The Matrix command-line surfaces — mclc, mcl-execute, mcl-tools, mcl-validate, cortex-shell, deusctl, and neo — and what each subcommand does.
Matrix ships several CLIs built by make install into ./bin. They share flags like -cortex-root, -manifest, and -skills-root.
mclc — the compiler
| Subcommand | Purpose |
|---|---|
compile | Compile prose + a skill + a verb into an Intent Frame. |
validate | Strict validation of a SKILL.mtx. |
hash | Compute the canonical AST digest. |
parse | Parse and dump the AST. |
./bin/mclc compile -skill skills/writing-plans/SKILL.mtx \
-prose "Build a deployment pipeline" -verb build [-dry-run]mcl-execute — the runtime
| Subcommand | Purpose |
|---|---|
walk | Compile an intent, synthesize a PlanTree, and walk it to completion. |
classify | Run the materiality classifier on an intent. |
loader | Load and inspect an agent manifest + its skills. |
daemon | Run the per-user HTTP + SSE daemon. |
./bin/mcl-execute walk -prose "Summarise the README" \
-manifest agents/default.json -cortex-root ./runs/dev-cortex -skills-root ./skillsmcl-tools — MCP tool inspection
| Subcommand | Purpose |
|---|---|
verify | Verify a manifest's tool bijection (declared == discovered). |
list | List tools exposed by the manifest's MCP servers. |
describe | Show a tool's schema. |
call | Invoke a tool directly. |
mcl-validate
Validates a single SKILL.mtx. The mtx-corpus CI job runs this across the whole corpus on every PR.
./bin/mcl-validate skills/<slug>/SKILL.mtxcortex-shell
Inspect and maintain a cortex store. The load-bearing command is the replay verifier:
cortex-shell rebuild -verify-only # drop derived, rebuild, assert byte-identical OverallRootdeusctl & neo
deusctl— operate the Deus marketplace control plane (register/publish services, manage deployments).neo— run the Neo conversational agent locally (CLI reporter → stdout/stderr).