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[cli-consistency] CLI Consistency Issues - 2026-06-15 #39401

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Description

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Summary

A comprehensive inspection of the gh aw CLI was performed on 2026-06-15. 8 issues were found: 4 medium and 4 low priority.

Commands inspected: add, add-wizard, audit, checks, compile, completion, deploy, disable, domains, enable, env (get/update), fix, forecast, hash-frontmatter, health, init, lint, list, logs, mcp, mcp-server, new, outcomes, pr, project, remove, run, secrets (set/bootstrap), status, trial, update, upgrade, validate, version (35+ total)


Severity Breakdown

Severity Count
🔴 High 0
🟡 Medium 4
🟢 Low 4
Total 8

Medium Priority Issues

1. outcomes and version miscategorized in root --help

Affected commands: outcomes, version

outcomes and version appear under Additional Commands in gh aw --help instead of their logical sections (Analysis Commands and Utilities respectively).

Actual root --help output (relevant excerpt):

Analysis Commands:
  audit   Audit workflow runs and generate detailed reports
  ...
  status  Show status of all agentic workflows in the repository

Utilities:
  completion       Generate shell completion scripts
  ...
  project          Create GitHub Projects V2 boards

Additional Commands:
  help             Help about any command
  outcomes         Check what happened to a workflow run's safe outputs
  version          Print the current version

Expected: outcomes under Analysis Commands; version under Utilities.

Suggested fix: Register outcomes in the Analysis group and version in the Utilities group in the Cobra command configuration.


2. audit description too narrow in root help and docs

Affected: Root --help Common Tasks section; docs/src/content/docs/setup/cli.md Most Common Commands table

Root help Common Tasks (quoted):

gh aw audit <run-id-or-url> # Debug a failed run

Docs Most Common Commands table (quoted):

| [gh aw audit](#audit) | Debug a failed workflow run |

Actual gh aw audit --help description (quoted):

Audit one or more workflow runs by downloading artifacts and logs, detecting errors, analyzing MCP tool usage, and generating a concise report suitable for AI agents.

The command also supports multi-run diff mode and security analysis — not just debugging failed runs. The current description misleads users about the command's full capability.

Suggested fix:

  • Root help: gh aw audit <run-id-or-url> # Audit and analyze a workflow run
  • Docs table: Audit and analyze workflow runs (single or diff mode)

3. forecast terminology mismatch between docs and CLI

Affected command: forecast

CLI root --help (quoted):

forecast Forecast AI Credit usage and costs for agentic workflows (experimental)

CLI forecast --help (quoted):

[EXPERIMENTAL] Forecast AI Credit (AIC) usage for agentic workflows by sampling recent run history...

Docs cli.md forecast section (quoted):

Forecast token usage and costs for agentic workflows using recent run history and Monte Carlo simulation.

Docs use "token usage" while the CLI consistently uses "AI Credit (AIC) usage".

Suggested fix: Update the docs description to Forecast AI Credit (AIC) usage and costs for agentic workflows...


4. Misleading comment in logs example for --parse --json combination

Affected command: logs

Docs example (quoted):

gh aw logs --ref main --parse --json      # With markdown/JSON output for branch

CLI --parse description (quoted): Run JavaScript parsers on agent logs and firewall logs, writing Markdown to log.md and firewall.md

CLI --json description (quoted): Output results in JSON format

The comment implies a single combined output, but --parse writes .md sidecar files while --json controls the stdout table format — these are independent operations.

Suggested fix:

gh aw logs --ref main --parse --json      # Parse logs to markdown files + output JSON summary for branch

Low Priority Issues

Show 4 low-priority findings

5. status pattern filter not shown in documentation examples

CLI status --help (quoted):

Usage:
  gh aw status [pattern] [flags]

Examples:
  gh aw status ci-                       # Show workflows with 'ci-' in name

The docs examples only show flag-based filtering (--ref, --label, --repo) and never demonstrate the positional pattern argument. By contrast, list docs show gh aw list ci- # Filter by pattern (case-insensitive) prominently.

Suggested fix: Add gh aw status ci- # Filter by pattern (case-insensitive) to the docs examples for status.


6. health --days allowed values not documented

CLI health --help flag (quoted):

--days int Number of days to analyze (7, 30, or 90) (default 7)

Only three discrete values are accepted. This constraint is not mentioned in the docs. A user passing --days 14 would get an unexpected error.

Suggested fix: Document the constraint: --days accepts only 7, 30, or 90.


7. outcomes history subcommand not documented

gh aw outcomes history is functional but has no entry in cli.md.

CLI outcomes history --help (quoted):

Score recent issues and merged pull requests against the objective mapping.

Examples:
  gh aw outcomes history
  gh aw outcomes history --source issues --limit 100
  gh aw outcomes history --repo owner/repo --json

Suggested fix: Add an outcomes history subsection under the outcomes command in the docs.


8. logs --cache-before terminology differs between docs and CLI

Docs (quoted): uses "cache cleanup", "Deletes cached run folders", comment text "Clean folders older than..."

CLI --cache-before flag description (quoted): (Cache eviction) Evict locally cached run folders for runs before this date, prior to downloading.

CLI example comments (quoted): "Evict local cache older than 1 week before downloading runs"

Suggested fix: Align docs to use "evict" / "cache eviction" terminology consistently with the CLI.


Inspection Metadata

Field Value
Date 2026-06-15
Commands inspected 35+ (all listed in root --help)
Source of truth Live CLI binary (./gh-aw --help) + docs/src/content/docs/setup/cli.md
Method --help output vs documentation cross-comparison
Workflow run 27555991860

Generated by ✅ CLI Consistency Checker · 517.8 AIC · ⌖ 13.2 AIC · ⊞ 15.8K ·

  • expires on Jun 17, 2026, 7:23 AM UTC-08:00

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