Installation

If you want the fastest path to a first successful run, install the prebuilt CLI from npm.

Fastest path: npm

npm install -g @monochange/cli
monochange --help
mc --help

Then continue with Start here or Your first release plan.

Alternative: Cargo

If you prefer to install from Rust tooling instead:

cargo install monochange
monochange --help
mc --help

Optional: assistant skill package

You do not need assistant tooling to use monochange.

When you want reusable agent guidance for Pi or other assistants, install the bundled skill into the current project with:

mc help skill
mc skill
mc skill --list
mc skill -a pi -y

mc skill forwards the remaining arguments to the upstream skills add flow, so you can keep the interactive prompts or pass the native --agent, --skill, --copy, --all, --global, and --yes flags directly.

After copying the bundled skill, you get a small documentation set that is designed to load in layers:

• SKILL.md — concise entrypoint for agents
• REFERENCE.md — broader high-context reference with more examples
• skills/README.md — index of focused deep dives
• skills/adoption.md — setup-depth questions, migration guidance, and recommendation patterns
• skills/changesets.md — changeset authoring and lifecycle guidance
• skills/commands.md — built-in command catalog and workflow selection
• skills/configuration.md — monochange.toml setup and editing guidance
• skills/linting.md — [lints] presets, mc check, and manifest-focused examples
• examples/README.md — condensed scenario examples for quick recommendations

This layout keeps the top-level skill small while still making the richer guidance available when an assistant needs more context.

Assistant-specific setup is covered in Advanced: Assistant setup and MCP.

CLI names

The main CLI is monochange and the short alias is mc.

Repository development

If you are working on the monochange repository itself, use the reproducible development shell:

devenv shell
install:all
mc step:validate
mc discover --format json
mc change --package monochange --bump minor --reason "add release planning"
mc step:diagnose-changesets --format json
mc release --dry-run --format json
mc publish-release --dry-run --format json
mc release-pr --dry-run --format json
mc step:release-record --from v1.2.3
mc step:tag-release --from HEAD --dry-run --format json
mc step:publish-readiness --from HEAD --output .monochange/readiness.json
mc step:placeholder-publish --from HEAD --output .monochange/bootstrap-result.json
mc step:publish-readiness --from HEAD --output .monochange/readiness.json
mc publish-plan --readiness .monochange/readiness.json --format json
mc publish --output .monochange/publish-result.json
mc repair-release --from v1.2.3 --target HEAD --dry-run
mc release

Useful repository-development commands:

monochange --help
mc --help
docs:check      # verify mdt shared-doc synchronization
docs:update     # synchronize shared docs via mdt update
schema:check    # verify committed JSON schemas are current
schema:update   # regenerate schema assets from source
mc step:validate
lint:all
test:all
coverage:all
coverage:patch
build:all
build:book