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This guide takes you from zero to a real Charter scan result. By the end you’ll have a score, a list of findings to act on, and an offline report you can share.
1

Install Charter

The fastest path on macOS and Linux:
Verify the install:
On Windows or if you prefer a direct binary or go install, see the Installation guide for all supported platforms.
2

Scan your repo

From the root of the repository you want to evaluate:
Charter scans statically — no network requests, no LLM calls, nothing sent anywhere. On a typical repo it finishes in under 2 seconds.
charter doctor output

charter doctor scanning — terminal output with category scorecard

3

Read the output

The doctor output has three sections:1. Category scorecardA breakdown of findings by axis — Context, Safety, Operability, and Governance — so you can see which area is pulling the score down.2. Individual findingsEach finding shows:
  • Rule ID (e.g. AE-SEC-001)
  • Severity (Blocker / High / Medium / Low)
  • Evidence — the exact file or pattern that triggered the rule
  • A fix suggestion or a link to the remediation guide
3. Final score and gate resultThe total score (0–100) and whether the repo passed or failed the active threshold.
Exit code contract:
  • Exit 0 — passed threshold
  • Exit 1 — below threshold
  • Exit 2 — scan error (bad path, unreadable files, etc.)
Use the score as a quick triage signal:
4

Fix what Charter can fix

For findings Charter knows how to repair, preview the diff first:
Apply when you’re satisfied:
Secrets and dangerous-command findings are never auto-fixed. Charter shows you what needs to change and where, but you make those changes manually. This is intentional — automated secret handling requires decisions only a human should make.
After fixing, re-run charter doctor --path . to confirm the score improved.
5

Generate a shareable report

For a fuller offline review you can attach to a PR or hand to a colleague:
This writes charter-report.html — a self-contained file with no external network dependencies. Open it in any browser.
charter HTML report

charter-report.html — self-contained offline HTML report

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What’s next

Add Charter to CI

Gate pull requests on agent-readiness with the GitHub Action.

Understand the score

The scoring formula, hard caps, and how findings roll up.

Browse the rules

All 18 rules with remediation guidance for each.

Fix a finding manually

When auto-fix isn’t available, here’s how to close findings by hand.