---

Overview

The official CLI for building Intend projects. Write your intentions, let AI generate the code.

Read the full documentation 📖

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- 🚀 Zero Config - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
- ⚡ Instant Builds - Smart caching means unchanged files build instantly
- 🔄 Watch Mode - Auto-rebuild on file changes
- 🤖 AI Providers - Supports Gemini and Ollama (local)
- 🛡️ Self-Healing - Auto-corrects AI mistakes with validation loop

Installation

``bash

Global install

npm install -g @intend-it/cli

Or use with npx/bunx

npx @intend-it/cli build
bunx @intend-it/cli build
`

Quick Start

`bash

1. Create a new project

intend init my-app
cd my-app

2. Set your API key

export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key-here"

3. Build!

intend build
`

Commands

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Initialize a new Intend project with configuration and example files.

`bash
intend init my-project
intend init . # Current directory
`

Creates:
- intend.config.json - Project configuration
- src/intents/ - Directory for .intent files
- out/ - Output directory for generated TypeScript
- intend.lock - Deterministic build lockfile (commit this!)

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To ensure that your builds are deterministic and fast, Intend uses a lockfile system.

When you run intend build, the CLI calculates a hash of your .intent source code and your configuration. If a match is found in intend.lock, the compiler uses the cached implementation instead of calling the AI provider.

- Fast Rebuilds: Near-instant builds for unchanged files.
- Stable Production: Your code won't change in CI/CD unless you explicitly change the intention.
- Version Control: You should always commit intend.lock to your repository.

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Build all .intent files in your project.

`bash
intend build # Build with default config
intend build --force # Ignore cache, rebuild all
intend build --attempts=10 # Set retry limit
intend build --provider=ollama # Use Ollama instead of Gemini
`

Options:
| Flag | Description |
|------|-------------|
| --config | Custom config file path |
| --output | Override output directory |
| --provider | AI provider: gemini or ollama |
| --api-key | Gemini API key |
| --force | Ignore cache, rebuild everything |
| --attempts | Max auto-correction retries (default: 5) |

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Watch for changes and auto-rebuild.

`bash
intend watch
`

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Parse a single file and output AST/CST (useful for debugging).

`bash
intend parse src/intents/user.intent --ast
intend parse src/intents/user.intent --cst
`

Configuration

Create intend.config.json in your project root:

`json
{
"sourceDir": "./src/intents",
"outDir": "./out",
"provider": "gemini",
"gemini": {
"apiKey": "${GEMINI_API_KEY}",
"model": "gemini-2.0-flash",
"temperature": 0.2
}
}
`

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`json
{
"sourceDir": "./src/intents",
"outDir": "./out",
"provider": "ollama",
"ollama": {
"model": "llama3",
"baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434",
"num_thread": 4
}
}
`

Example Workflow

1. Write an intent file (src/intents/math.intent):

`typescript
export intent Add(a: number, b: number) -> number {
invariant "Both inputs must be numbers"
step "Add the two numbers together" => const result
ensure result is a number
}

export intent Multiply(a: number, b: number) -> number {
step "Multiply the numbers" => const product
ensure product is a number
}
`

2. Build:

`bash
$ intend build

✨ Intend Build

Source ./src/intents
Output ./out
Provider gemini

◐ Scanning for .intent files...
✔ Found 1 intent file

Compiling

✔ math.intent 1247ms

Summary

✔ 1 compiled
→ 1.25s
`

3. Use the generated code:

`typescript
import { Add, Multiply } from "./out/math";

const sum = Add(5, 3); // 8
const product = Multiply(4, 7); // 28
`

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| GEMINI_API_KEY | Google Gemini API key |
| INTEND_PROVIDER | Default provider (gemini or ollama) |

Related Packages

- @intend-it/parser - Lexer and parser
- @intend-it/core` - AI code generator

License

MIT © Intend Team