Command Line Interface (CLI)

Document Version Information

• Current Document Version: 0.1
• Status: Draft Specifications
• Date: June 8, 2026

The Universal Documentation Engine provides a modular Command Line Interface (CLI) called ude to execute pipelines locally and offline.

Command Structure

The CLI is structured into high-level orchestrators and low-level utility commands.

ude
├── compile (or run)    # High-level orchestrator: parses and renders in one command
├── parse               # Lower-level parser: ingests XML and outputs a compressed IR (.json.gz)
└── render              # Lower-level renderer: ingests compressed IR (.json.gz) and outputs docs

ude compile

Executes the full pipeline: ingests raw analysis data, validates IR, and renders pages in a single step.

• Arguments:
  • --config, -c: Path to configuration file (default: ./ude.toml).
  • --input, -i: Path to the input directory containing analysis files (overrides config).
  • --output, -o: Target output directory (overrides config).
  • --format, -f: Output format: hugo or html (overrides config).

ude parse

Performs the frontend ingestion phase only, saving the validated IR to a compressed file.

• Arguments:
  • --config, -c: Path to configuration file (default: ./ude.toml).
  • --input, -i: Path to raw input files (overrides config).
  • --output, -o: Path to the target compressed IR file (default: ./ude_ir.json.gz).

ude render

Performs the backend rendering phase only, reading the compressed IR.

• Arguments:
  • --config, -c: Path to configuration file (default: ./ude_ir.json.gz).
  • --output, -o: Target output directory (overrides config).
  • --format, -f: Output format: hugo or html (overrides config).

---

Configuration File (ude.toml)

Users can control the pipeline execution using a standard ude.toml configuration file in their repository root:

[project]
name = "Universal Documentation Engine"
version = "1.0.0"

[parser]
type = "doxygen_xml"
input_dir = "docs/doxygen/xml"
ignore_internal = true
ignore_cond = true

[renderer]
format = "hugo"          # "hugo" or "html"
output_dir = "docs/content"
templates_dir = "templates"

---

Storage and Gzip Compression (IR)

To prevent cluttering Git commits and bloating repository storage, the IR intermediate file is aggressively compressed:

1. When ude parse finishes, the memory model ProjectCatalog.model_dump_json() is serialized to UTF-8.
2. The JSON text is compressed using the Gzip algorithm.
3. The compressed bytes are written directly to <filename>.json.gz.
4. When ude render starts, it reads and decompresses the Gzip archive into memory and initializes ProjectCatalog.model_validate_json(), completing an instant round-trip.

---

Exit Codes

To integrate cleanly with CI/CD pipelines, the CLI returns standardized exit codes:

• 0: Pipeline completed successfully.
• 1: General runtime errors or unhandled exceptions.
• 2: Pydantic/IR validation schema violation (ValidationError).
• 3: Missing input files or I/O write failures (ParserError, RendererError).
• 4: Invalid config parameters or syntax.