CLI Reference

Coraline CLI Reference

Coraline is invoked as coraline [COMMAND] [OPTIONS] [PATH].

When [PATH] is omitted, the current working directory is used as the project root.

Commands at a Glance

coraline init [PATH]

Initialize Coraline in a project directory. Creates .coraline/ with a SQLite database, default config.toml, and initial memory templates.

When stdin is a TTY, prompts to download the embedding model (~137 MB) after initialization. Decline to skip — all non-embedding tools remain fully functional and you can download later with coraline model download.

If .coraline/ already exists and --index is passed without --force, init skips the overwrite and runs indexing directly on the existing project.

Options:

Examples:

coraline init                    # Initialize current directory
coraline init /path/to/my-app   # Initialize a specific path
coraline init -i                 # Initialize, prompt for model, then index
coraline init -i --no-hooks      # Initialize and index, skip git hooks
coraline init --force            # Wipe and reinitialize existing project

On success, creates:

• .coraline/coraline.db — SQLite knowledge graph
• .coraline/config.toml — Annotated config template
• .coraline/memories/ — Initial memory files
• .coraline/.gitignore — Excludes local data files from git
• .git/hooks/post-commit — Auto-sync hook (unless --no-hooks)

coraline index [PATH]

Perform a full reindex of the project. Parses all matching source files, extracts symbols and edges, resolves cross-file references, and stores results in the knowledge graph.

Options:

Examples:

coraline index                   # Index current directory
coraline index /path/to/project  # Index a specific path
coraline index -f                # Force full re-parse
coraline index -q                # Silent (useful in scripts)

coraline sync [PATH]

Perform an incremental update using git-diff to identify changed files. Faster than a full index for routine updates.

Options:

Examples:

coraline sync                    # Sync current directory
coraline sync -q                 # Silent sync (used by git hook)

coraline status [PATH]

Show the current project status: initialization state, paths to config and database, database size, and git hook status.

Examples:

coraline status

Sample output:

Coraline Status

Project: /home/user/my-app
Config:  /home/user/my-app/.coraline/config.toml
Database: /home/user/my-app/.coraline/coraline.db (1048576 bytes)
Git hooks: installed

coraline stats [PATH]

Show index statistics: file count, node count, edge count, and unresolved reference count.

Options:

Examples:

coraline stats
coraline stats --json

Sample output:

Coraline Statistics

Files:     128
Nodes:     4201
Edges:     9872
Unresolved refs: 153

coraline query <SEARCH> [PATH]

Search for symbols in the knowledge graph by name. Uses SQLite full-text search (FTS5) for fast, fuzzy matching.

Arguments:

Options:

Valid KIND values: file, module, class, struct, interface, trait, protocol, function, method, property, field, variable, constant, enum, enum_member, type_alias, namespace, parameter, import, export, route, component

Examples:

coraline query resolve_unresolved
coraline query "index" --kind function --limit 5
coraline query Auth --json

coraline context <TASK> [PATH]

Build structured context for an AI task description. Searches the graph, traverses relationships, and returns relevant code snippets.

Arguments:

Options:

Examples:

coraline context "add authentication middleware"
coraline context "how does indexing work" --format json
coraline context "refactor database layer" --max-nodes 30 --max-code 5

coraline callers <NODE_ID> [PATH]

Find all nodes that call the specified node (incoming calls edges).

Arguments:

Options:

Examples:

coraline callers abc123
coraline callers abc123 --limit 50 --json

coraline callees <NODE_ID> [PATH]

Find all nodes that the specified node calls (outgoing calls edges).

Same flags as callers.

coraline impact <NODE_ID> [PATH]

Analyze the impact radius of a symbol — what would be affected if it changed. Performs a BFS over incoming edges up to --depth hops.

Arguments:

Options:

Examples:

coraline impact abc123
coraline impact abc123 --depth 5 --json

coraline config [PATH]

Read or update the project configuration at .coraline/config.toml.

Options:

Examples:

coraline config                                 # Print full config (TOML)
coraline config --section context               # Print one section
coraline config --json                          # Print as JSON
coraline config --set context.max_nodes=30      # Update a value
coraline config --set indexing.batch_size=50
coraline config --set vectors.enabled=true

coraline hooks <ACTION> [PATH]

Manage the git post-commit hook that runs coraline sync automatically after each commit.

Actions:

Options:

Examples:

coraline hooks install
coraline hooks status
coraline hooks remove

coraline serve [PATH]

Start the MCP server. With --mcp, communicates over stdio using the Model Context Protocol.

Options:

Examples:

coraline serve --mcp
coraline serve --mcp --path /path/to/project

Typically invoked by an MCP client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.) rather than directly.

coraline update

Check whether a newer version of Coraline is published on crates.io. Compares the running binary version against the latest release and prints upgrade instructions when an update is available.

Options: None.

Examples:

coraline update

Output (when up to date):

✓ coraline is up to date (v0.3.0)

Output (when update available):

Update available: v0.3.0 → v0.4.0
Run `cargo install coraline` to upgrade.

Environment Variables

Examples:

CORALINE_LOG=debug coraline index
CORALINE_LOG=coraline=trace coraline serve --mcp

Logs are written to .coraline/logs/coraline.log (daily rotating) and to stderr at the configured level.

coraline embed [PATH]

Generate vector embeddings for all indexed nodes using the local ONNX model. Embeddings enable the coraline_semantic_search MCP tool.

By default, embed performs a lightweight freshness check and runs incremental sync first when indexed state is stale. This keeps embeddings aligned with current source files without requiring a manual coraline sync step.

Options:

Examples:

coraline embed                        # Embed using already-downloaded model
coraline embed --skip-sync            # Skip auto-sync and embed current index state
coraline embed --download             # Download model_int8.onnx then embed
coraline embed --download --variant model_fp16.onnx

Run coraline index first. Models are stored in .coraline/models/nomic-embed-text-v1.5/.

coraline model [PATH]

Manage the ONNX embedding model files.

coraline model download

Download model files from HuggingFace (nomic-ai/nomic-embed-text-v1.5).

Downloads tokenizer.json, tokenizer_config.json, and the chosen ONNX weights into .coraline/models/nomic-embed-text-v1.5/.

Available variants (smallest to largest):

coraline model status

Show which model files are present in the model directory.

coraline model status