Problem / outcome
Expose read-only inspect and explain workflows so users and automation can understand every RFC 001 Rev 3 reference, source, projection, JSONPath result, effective format, cache, and status before validation or synchronization.
Epic: #111 . Milestone: 4 — CLI workflows .
In scope
Add fm-var inspect / explain workflows following existing CLI conventions.
Support files/content trees, exclusions, hidden-file behavior, and deterministic document ordering through GlobalOptions.
Inspect element kind/location, raw src/query, resolved source, YAML-to-I-JSON projection metadata, nodelist cardinality/order, selected node/value shape, effective formatting, cached/expected content, and status.
Explain source policy, query-argument conversion, RFC 9535 query steps/functions, first-node or one-sequence rules, split fallback selection, coercion, cascade, and failures.
Human-readable and versioned structured JSON output with safe redaction/escaping.
Relevant specification sections
§2 all Rev 3 attributes.
§3.4–3.8 resolution, projection/querying, cardinality, fallback, and formatting.
§4 JSONPath querying/YAML projection.
Dependencies and blockers
Implementation considerations
Keep runners/renderers separate from Argument Parser structs for direct Swift Testing.
Avoid printing credentials, denied contents, full sensitive values, or unbounded nodelists.
Surface RFC object-enumeration ordering caveats and configured query limits without implying stronger determinism.
Provide stable reference identifiers based on document/source location.
Consume provenance emitted by Core rather than recomputing semantics.
Acceptance Criteria
Users can inspect all references in a file/tree without mutation.
Explain covers source resolution, query-argument projection, JSONPath/functions, nodelist/cardinality, selection, split fallback, coercion, cascade, expected cache, and status.
Output includes <fm-format> and both scalar/list references using raw decoded/authored query representations safely.
JSON output is versioned, deterministic within RFC guarantees, source-located, parseable, and unstyled.
Denied/sensitive sources and large query results are redacted/bounded appropriately.
No inspect/explain path writes files.
Test requirements
Parser/runner/renderer tests, structured-output decoding, multi-file ordering, nodelist/cardinality cases, query limits, selector ambiguity, redaction, and process boundary tests.
Documentation / CLI-help impact
CLI help, DocC, README examples, and structured report field definitions using Rev 3 terminology.
Explicitly deferred
Validation exit policy, writes, interactive selection, editor UI, network enablement, and browser hydration.
Problem / outcome
Expose read-only inspect and explain workflows so users and automation can understand every RFC 001 Rev 3 reference, source, projection, JSONPath result, effective format, cache, and status before validation or synchronization.
Epic: #111. Milestone: 4 — CLI workflows.
In scope
inspect/explainworkflows following existing CLI conventions.GlobalOptions.src/query, resolved source, YAML-to-I-JSON projection metadata, nodelist cardinality/order, selected node/value shape, effective formatting, cached/expected content, and status.Relevant specification sections
Dependencies and blockers
Implementation considerations
Acceptance Criteria
<fm-format>and both scalar/list references using raw decoded/authored query representations safely.Test requirements
Documentation / CLI-help impact
Explicitly deferred