Rendered from docs/interfaces/README.md in the Headwater corpus. Every document on this half of the site is typed by the taxonomy the descriptor names: corpus.json.

The command surface

headwater dispatches the verbs below, one row each.

A verb with no contract carries a mark in the last column, and that cell is what this file is for. An index of the contracts that exist would say nothing about the verbs nobody has described yet.

The headings and the second column are the groups and the summaries that headwater --help prints, read off the same table. The long description of a verb is what headwater help <verb> prints, and it is not repeated here.

Checking a corpus

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
check	run the pipeline over the corpus, against the committed lock	headwater check	headwater check
change	write the manifest that check --change reads	headwater change	headwater change
gate	hold an earlier run's read set against the tree in front of it	headwater gate	headwater gate
conformance	evaluate this repository against a package's conformance rules	headwater conformance	headwater conformance
derived	which files a producer writes, computed rather than listed	headwater derived	headwater derived
site	hold a built site against the corpus it was built from	headwater site	headwater site
merge-driver	the merge driver git calls for a derived fold	headwater merge-driver	headwater merge-driver

Reading a corpus

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
route	resolve a task description to the documents that govern it	headwater route	headwater route
neighbors	rank summaries by meaning against a task, for the shadow log	headwater neighbors	headwater neighbors
explain	why a document is the kind it is, and what it serves	headwater explain	headwater explain
show	print one document's own bytes, found the way explain finds it	headwater show	headwater show
query	listed in spec 6, and no document says what an expression is	headwater query	headwater query
capture	read the capture-cost store back	headwater capture	headwater capture
mcp	serve the reads and one run of the checks to an agent	headwater mcp	headwater mcp

Writing a corpus

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
new	scaffold a document of a kind	headwater new	headwater new
infer	report the debt this taxonomy raises over this corpus	headwater infer	headwater infer
generate	write every projection the taxonomy declares	headwater generate	headwater generate
import	write the edges a committed snapshot declares	headwater import	headwater import
export	emit a declared export profile through an emitter target	headwater export	headwater export

Sampling, which never gates

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
sweep	the two halves of the coherence sweep	headwater sweep plan, headwater sweep report	headwater sweep
probe	the four parts of the probe harness	headwater probe plan, headwater probe record, headwater probe grade, headwater probe stale	headwater probe

The taxonomy

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
init	scaffold the consumer declaration and the overlay	headwater init	headwater init
taxonomy	read, write, publish and compare a taxonomy package	headwater taxonomy validate, headwater taxonomy resolve, headwater taxonomy audit, headwater taxonomy publish, headwater taxonomy vendor, headwater taxonomy diff, headwater taxonomy migrate, headwater taxonomy graph	headwater taxonomy

Reading a wire format, and no corpus

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
json	read one member of the JSON object on standard input	headwater json field, headwater json count, headwater json quote	headwater json

Getting help

Verb	What it does	What a caller types	Contract
help	the long description of one verb, or this screen	headwater help	headwater help
completions	write the completion script of one shell	headwater completions	headwater completions