Charter — AI-Agent Readiness Scanner

charter explain <RULE-ID> is the rule lookup command. It prints catalog metadata for a single rule: ID, name, category, severity, description, and docs URL.

Usage

charter explain AE-CTX-001

charter explain AE-MCP-001 --format json

charter explain output showing rule metadata — charter explain AE-CTX-001 — rule catalog metadata in the terminal

Flags

text | json

Output format. Defaults to text.

Example Output

Rule:        AE-CTX-001
Name:        AgentContextFilePresent
Category:    Context
Severity:    Blocker
Description: Agent context file must exist, be meaningful, and fit budget.
Docs:        https://use-charter.dev/rules/AE-CTX-001

When to Use It

Use charter explain when you already have a rule ID — from charter doctor output, charter report findings, CI logs, or a GitHub Code Scanning result — and want the fastest explanation without leaving the terminal. Follow the linked docs URL for the full rationale and remediation guidance.

Every rule reference page on this site corresponds to charter explain <RULE-ID> — same data, richer presentation with full rationale, remediation guidance, and OWASP mapping.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning	When
`0`	Pass	The rule was found and rendered successfully
`2`	Error	Unknown rule ID, an invalid `--format` value, or another usage error

Rules overview

The full catalog of Charter rules and categories.

doctor

The scan that surfaces the rule IDs you look up here.

​Usage

​Flags

​Example Output

​When to Use It

​Exit codes

​Related

Rules overview

doctor

Usage

Flags

Example Output

When to Use It

Exit codes

Related