A minimal Node.js application where the CLI is ready on day one. Clone it, build a feature, update the OpenAPI contract, and test the result through the generated appctl CLI.

Requires Node.js 24+, pnpm 10+, and Go 1.25+.

pnpm install
pnpm test
pnpm dev

pnpm test builds and runs the checked-in CLI. After OpenAPI or CLI identity changes, use pnpm check instead so generation stays in sync.

In another terminal:

./bin/appctl search "create task" --json
./bin/appctl commands show tasks create --json
./bin/appctl tasks create --set title="Ship from the CLI" -o json
./bin/appctl tasks list -o json

The feature-development loop is one command:

pnpm check

It regenerates the CLI from openapi/openapi.yaml, builds bin/appctl, starts the application in-process, and runs the acceptance suite (CLI for API behavior, direct HTTP for transport-level boundary checks).

pnpm test only builds and tests the checked-in generated CLI. It does not run code generation or go mod tidy.

When an API feature changes:

1. Change src/.
2. Change openapi/openapi.yaml.
3. Run pnpm check.
4. Commit the regenerated internal/generated/ and skills/appctl/ output with the feature.

• Dependency-free Node.js HTTP application
• OpenAPI 3.0 contract
• Reproducible generated CLI configuration
• Agent operating contract in AGENTS.md
• CLI-first acceptance suite
• CI guard against stale generated output

The CLI generation pipeline uses Lathe, pinned by version. Application developers do not need to modify the generator.