CLI Reference

Limier exposes five top-level commands:

• limier run
• limier ci github
• limier inspect
• limier render
• limier version

limier run

Use this to compare one dependency upgrade in an isolated fixture.

limier run \
  --ecosystem npm \
  --package left-pad \
  --current 1.0.0 \
  --candidate 1.1.0 \
  --report out/limier/report.json \
  --summary out/limier/summary.md \
  --evidence out/limier/evidence

Flags:

• --ecosystem: ecosystem adapter to use
• --package: dependency name to compare
• --current: baseline version
• --candidate: candidate version
• --fixture: path to the sample application directory, or a preset. Defaults to preset:<ecosystem>-require for npm, pip, and cargo.
• --scenario: path to the scenario manifest, or a preset. Defaults to preset:<ecosystem>-ci for npm, pip, and cargo.
• --rules: path to the rules file, or a preset. Defaults to preset:default.
• --report: path for the JSON report, default report.json
• --summary: path for the Markdown summary, default summary.md
• --evidence: directory for evidence files, default evidence
• --fail-on: optional comma-separated recommendations that should fail the command. Empty preserves Limier's default exit-code behavior.

Supported ecosystems today:

• cargo
• npm
• pip

limier ci github

Use this in GitHub Actions wrappers. It reads Dependabot metadata from environment variables, applies CI defaults, writes rendered outputs, and exits according to --fail-on.

limier ci github \
  --output-dir out/limier \
  --fail-on block,rerun

The command writes:

• out/limier/report.json when Limier runs
• out/limier/summary.md
• out/limier/build-summary.md
• out/limier/comment.md
• out/limier/status.json
• out/limier/pr.txt when a pull request number is available

Flags:

• --output-dir: directory for CI outputs, default out/limier
• --fail-on: comma-separated recommendations that should fail the command, default block,rerun
• --ecosystem, --package, --current, --candidate: optional metadata overrides
• --fixture, --scenario, --rules: optional path or preset overrides
• --dependency-files-changed: whether dependency-relevant files changed, one of true, false, or unknown

--dependency-files-changed can also be supplied with LIMIER_CI_DEPENDENCY_FILES_CHANGED. When no dependency metadata is available, Limier only returns not_applicable if this signal is false. A true or missing/unknown signal returns needs_review so dependency-file pull requests do not pass as unrelated changes.

When dependency metadata is complete, the GitHub CI integration has generic default presets for npm, pip, and cargo. Pass --fixture and --scenario when your project needs a richer, project-specific behavioral check.

limier inspect

Use this when you already have a report.json file and want a concise explanation without rerunning the fixture.

limier inspect --input out/limier/report.json

Flags:

• --input: existing report.json
• --output: optional output file for the inspection text

limier render

Use this to turn an existing report into a downstream surface such as a CI summary or PR comment.

limier render --format build-summary --input out/limier/report.json

Flags:

• --format: one of github-comment, gitlab-note, or build-summary
• --input: existing report.json
• --output: optional output file

limier version

Print the current Limier version:

limier version

Logging

Limier also supports simple logging controls through environment variables:

• LIMIER_LOG_LEVEL: debug, info, warn, or error
• LIMIER_LOG_FORMAT: set to json for structured output; any other value, or leaving it unset, uses the default text format

Example:

LIMIER_LOG_LEVEL=debug LIMIER_LOG_FORMAT=json limier run ...