CLI command reference

Every Rigor command is a subcommand of the single rigor executable:

rigor <command> [options] [arguments]

rigor help prints the command list; rigor version prints the installed version. An unknown command, or a malformed option, exits 64 — the conventional “usage error” code.

Commands check · init · annotate · type-of · type-scan · explain · diff · sig-gen · lsp · baseline · triage · coverage · mcp · plugins · plugin · playground · skill · lsp vs mcp · exit codes

rigor check

Analyse Ruby source for type errors and report diagnostics. This is the command you run day to day and in CI.

rigor check [paths...]

paths are files or directories; when omitted, Rigor checks the paths: list from the configuration file.

Option	Effect
--config=PATH	Use a specific config file instead of auto-discovery.
--format=text|json	Output format. Default text.
--explain	Surface fail-soft fallback events as info diagnostics.
--no-cache	Skip the persistent cache for this run.
--clear-cache	Delete the cache directory before running.
--cache-stats	Print the on-disk cache inventory when finished.
--[no-]stats	Print a run summary (files, classes, memory, wall time) to stderr. Default on.
--workers=N	Dispatch analysis across N parallel worker processes (fork-based pool today; ADR-15). Default 0 (sequential).
--baseline=PATH	Load a baseline file, overriding config.
--no-baseline	Ignore any configured baseline.
--baseline-strict	Fail the run on any baseline drift — a CI gate.
--treat-all-as-inline-rbs	Force-load rigor-rbs-inline with require_magic_comment: false, so every analysed file is treated as inline-RBS without the # rbs_inline: enabled comment (ADR-32).
--tmp-file=PATH --instead-of=PATH	Editor mode: analyse PATH using the buffer in --tmp-file. Both required together.

Exit 0 when no error-severity diagnostics remain, 1 when any are reported, 64 on a usage error.

rigor init

Write a starter configuration file.

rigor init [--path=PATH] [--force]

Writes .rigor.dist.yml by default. --path chooses a different target; --force overwrites an existing file. Exit 1 if the file exists and --force was not given.

rigor annotate

Reprint a file with every line tagged by the type of the expression it evaluates to, as a trailing #=> dump_type: comment. See Inspecting inferred types.

rigor annotate [--[no-]color] [--config=PATH] FILE

FILE is required. Colour is auto-detected for a tty and honours NO_COLOR; --color / --no-color override. Exit 1 on a parse error or a missing file.

rigor type-of

Print the inferred type at one source position.

rigor type-of FILE:LINE:COL
rigor type-of FILE LINE COL

Accepts the position as a single file:line:col triple or as three arguments. --format=json emits a machine-readable form; --trace records fail-soft fallbacks. The editor-mode --tmp-file / --instead-of pair is accepted as on check.

rigor type-scan

Report type_of inference coverage across paths — a diagnostic-of-the-diagnoser, useful when investigating why a class infers poorly.

rigor type-scan PATH...

--limit=N caps the printed examples (default 10), --show-recognized includes fully-covered classes, and --threshold=RATIO makes the command exit non-zero when the unrecognized-node ratio exceeds RATIO.

rigor explain

Print the catalogue entry for a diagnostic rule, or list every rule when called with no argument.

rigor explain [rule]

rule is a rule ID (call.undefined-method), a legacy alias, or a family wildcard (call, flow, def, assert, dump). --format=json is available. Exit 64 for an unknown rule.

rigor diff

Compare the current diagnostics against a saved baseline JSON and report only what is new.

rigor diff <baseline.json> [paths...]

--current=PATH compares against a saved diagnostics JSON instead of running a fresh check. Exit 1 when new diagnostics appear.

rigor sig-gen

Emit RBS signatures inferred from your Ruby source. See handbook chapter 11 for the classification model and the --params policy.

rigor sig-gen [paths]

Option	Effect
--print	Write RBS to stdout. Default.
--diff	Write a unified diff against existing RBS.
--write	Write RBS to sig/<path>.rbs files.
--overwrite	Allow tighter-return updates to replace user-authored RBS.
--include-private	Emit private and protected methods too.
--params=untyped|observed|observed-strict	Parameter-typing policy. Default untyped.
--observe=PATH	Scan PATH for call-site observations. Repeatable.
--new-files / --new-methods / --tighter-returns	Emit only that classification.
--format=text|json	Output format.

rigor lsp

Run the Language Server over stdio. See Editor integration.

rigor lsp [--transport=stdio] [--log=PATH] [--config=PATH]

stdio is the only transport in v1. --log=PATH writes the wire log to a file instead of stderr.

rigor baseline

Manage diagnostic baselines. See Baselines for the file format and workflow.

rigor baseline <generate|regenerate|dump|drift|prune> [options]

Subcommand	Purpose
generate	Write a fresh baseline from the current diagnostics. Refuses to overwrite without --force.
regenerate	Rewrite the baseline unconditionally — use after a quality pass.
dump	Print the baseline contents, filterable by --rule and --file.
drift	Audit how each bucket has drifted; filter with --only=within|over|cleared|reducible.
prune	Drop buckets that no longer match any diagnostic. --dry-run previews.

generate and regenerate accept --output=PATH and --match-mode=rule|message.

rigor triage

Summarise a diagnostic stream — rule distribution, per-file hotspots, and heuristic “why” hints — instead of dumping the raw list. See Baselines.

rigor triage [paths]

--top=N sets the hotspot count (default 10); --hints-only and --no-hints select which sections print. triage is advisory and always exits 0 — it never gates a build.

rigor coverage

Report type-precision coverage — the ratio of call sites that resolve to a precise type versus those that fall back to Dynamic. A quality gate for “how much is Rigor actually inferring”.

rigor coverage [paths]

--format=text|json selects the output format and --config=PATH overrides config discovery. --threshold=RATIO exits 1 when the precision ratio falls below RATIO (0.0–1.0), making it a CI gate.

rigor mcp

Run the Rigor MCP (Model Context Protocol) server over stdio, so AI coding assistants can call Rigor tools directly. See MCP server.

rigor mcp [--transport=stdio] [--config=PATH]

stdio is the only transport. The server is a pure-Ruby JSON-RPC 2.0 implementation exposing seven read-only tools: rigor_check, rigor_type_of, rigor_triage, rigor_annotate, rigor_sig_gen, rigor_explain, rigor_coverage.

rigor lsp vs rigor mcp

lsp speaks the Language Server Protocol to editors; mcp speaks the Model Context Protocol to AI assistants. Both run over stdio and wrap the same analysis engine.

rigor plugins

Report the activation status of every plugin configured in .rigor.yml — loaded, load-error (with reason), and each plugin’s declared extension surfaces. See Plugins.

rigor plugins [--format=text|json] [--strict] [--capabilities] [--config=PATH]

Without --strict the command always exits 0; with --strict it exits 1 when any plugin failed to load (a CI gate).

--capabilities switches to the extension-protocol catalogue (ADR-37): a focused, machine-readable map of what each loaded plugin contributes — the AST node types its node_rules match, the receiver classes its dynamic_returns gate on, the methods its type_specifiers narrow, and the facts it produces / consumes. Combine with --format=json for tooling (an AI agent can enumerate every plugin’s behaviour without reading a line of plugin source). The same narrow surfaces also appear in the default full report. Not to be confused with the singular rigor plugin.

rigor plugin

Browse the on-disk source of the plugins bundled in the toolchain, so you can read a real, working plugin as a worked example when authoring your own.

rigor plugin <list|path|print|root> [name]

Subcommand	Purpose
list	Table of every bundled plugin and example, name + absolute directory path (default when no subcommand given).
path <name>	One-line absolute path to the plugin’s directory.
print <name>	A header (dir / lib / sig / README paths) followed by the plugin’s main source body inlined.
root	The rigortype gem root and its key subdirectories.

Paths resolve at runtime from the gem location (a documented caveat for container / cross-filesystem setups).

rigor playground

Start the browser playground (a CodeMirror editor with real-time diagnostics). Requires the separate rigor-playground gem; if it is not installed the command prints an install hint and exits 64.

rigor playground

rigor skill

List or print the bundled Agent Skills shipped inside the rigortype gem, so an AI coding agent installed alongside Rigor can discover and follow them without a project-side source checkout. See Skills.

rigor skill <list|print|path> [name]

Subcommand	Purpose
list	Table of every bundled skill (name + absolute path); the default when no subcommand is given.
print <name>	Print the SKILL.md body to stdout, with a header pointing at the skill’s references/ directory.
path <name>	Print the single-line absolute SKILL.md path, suitable as input to a file-reading tool.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success — no error-severity diagnostics.
1	Diagnostics found, or a per-command failure (parse error, missing file, new diagnostics on diff).
64	Usage error — unknown command, bad flag, malformed argument.

rigor triage is the exception: it is advisory and always exits 0.