YouBothAgent▾
You — Business rules and flows you own. Read these yourself.
Both — Know the idea; your agent follows the details.
Agent — Conventions and references your agent follows. Look up as needed.
CLI Reference▾
AkanJS Reference▾
Guideline CLI
Guidelines are instruction documents for coding agents that ship inside the Akan CLI.
akan guideline prints them in the terminal; it calls no LLM and changes no file.Reach for it when one module file, scalar file, UI pattern or framework-wide rule needs the most specific instruction there is.
Words Used On This Page
TermDescription
guideline
An instruction document for coding agents that ships inside the Akan CLI, one per area or file role.
AGENTS.md
The guide an agent reads on every task: the short rules, plus which guideline covers the rest.
MCP
Model Context Protocol, the standard way a coding agent calls tools outside itself.
get_guideline
The MCP tool that returns one guideline by name.
Where The Same Text Is Read
Every path below reads the same files, so a person and an agent see the same words.
PathDescription
akan guideline show <name>
A person reads one guideline in the terminal, as Markdown.
get_guideline
The tool the
akan code agent and editor agents on akan mcp use to fetch one guideline.akan://guidelines/<name>
An MCP client finds one resource per guideline in its resource list.
akan agent install
Copies
framework, conventions and workspaceOnboarding into the AGENTS.md agents read.- AGENTS.md is a copy. It is written when you run
akan agent install. Every other path reads the installed CLI each time. - Agents fetch before a deep pass.
AGENTS.mdnames the guideline for each area, and the agent loads it withget_guidelinebefore a larger change there.
guideline
Lists the guidelines bundled with the CLI, or prints one of them as Markdown.
Use it when an agent, a documentation tool or a contributor needs more depth on one area than
AGENTS.md carries.Signature
Arguments
actionStringrequiredlist | show
list prints every guideline name, one per line; show prints one guideline.nameString
Guideline to print, such as
framework, moduleOverview or modelSignal; required for show.Notes
NameDescription
Read-only
Guidelines are files installed with the CLI; the command reads them and never writes.
Same text as agents
MCP
get_guideline and akan guideline show read the same bundled files.Unknown name
show with a name that does not exist fails with an error listing every valid name.Version
The text is the installed CLI's own, so it changes when you upgrade the CLI.
Examples
Guideline List
These are the names
akan guideline list prints, grouped by what they cover. The list follows the installed CLI, so trust its output over this page.Whole Workspace
GuidelineDescription
framework
The shortest overview: what apps, libs and pkgs own, and the layer order of a module.
conventions
The full convention set that
akan agent install writes into AGENTS.md.workspaceOnboarding
Workspace layout, the agent workflow, common commands, and where each kind of code goes.
workspaceRecipes
Step-by-step recipes for frequent changes, and the API generated at each layer.
moduleOverview
Which file of a database module owns what, and the order a module grows in.
Deep Dives By Area
Read the one for an area before a larger change there.
GuidelineDescription
ssrRule
When a
.tsx file earns "use client", and how to keep markup on the server.runtimeRule
Web surfaces, route prefixes, processes, logging, the Docker image and shipped assets.
queryRule
Filters, slices and hydration, full-text search, and cascade removal.
transportRule
Guards on HTTP and websocket, socket identity and cleanup, binary pubsub, mutation verbs.
mcpRule
Which endpoints agents see over MCP,
option.setMcp, OAuth sign-in and page prompts.agentRule
The in-page agent:
<Agent.Chat />, st.tool, forms, and what an agent may read.fieldRule
The
field() helper and its options, for constant and scalar constant files.cssRule
Semantic color tokens, the theme in
styles.css, and a lib's own tokens.css.componentRule
Shared UI rules, and re-skinning
akanjs/ui components with _overrides.tsx.recipeRule
Using and authoring Tailwind-variant recipes, so a look is written once.
One Per Module File
One guideline per file role, for database modules and scalars.
GuidelineDescription
modelConstant
<model>.constant.tsThe data shape every layer shares, from Input to the full model.
modelDictionary
<model>.dictionary.tsLabels and text for fields, enums, queries, slices, endpoints and errors.
modelDocument
<model>.document.tsFilters, document chain methods, collection helpers and indexes.
modelService
<model>.service.tsBusiness workflows: what to load, which methods to chain, when to save.
modelSignal
<model>.signal.tsThe callable API: internal jobs, slices, endpoints and their guards.
modelStore
<model>.store.tsClient state for forms, lists and details, and the actions the UI calls.
modelTemplate
<Model>.Template.tsxForm fragments bound to the store's form state and setters.
modelUnit
<Model>.Unit.tsxCompact displays of the light model, such as cards, rows and badges.
modelView
<Model>.View.tsxFull detail displays for detail pages and view modals.
modelUtil
<Model>.Util.tsxSmall model-specific controls, such as action buttons, toolbars and dialogs.
modelZone
<Model>.Zone.tsxPage sections that compose loaders, lists, views and templates.
scalarModule
lib/__scalar/<scalar>/When a value is a scalar rather than a module, and what its folder holds.
scalarConstant
<scalar>.constant.tsA small embedded value object that reads clearly without its parent model.
scalarDictionary
<scalar>.dictionary.tsLabels and descriptions for a scalar's fields and enum values.