Brandon ThomasandClaude Opus 5.5
7145107896
- engine::script: parse scripts (lines, JSON lines, JSON arrays), resolve "$N.path" /
"${N.path}" references to earlier results, run with a failure report (+ tests)
- CLI: script [FILE|-] (headless or --connect to the running app; --save/--export,
--keep-going), app COMMAND [JSON] / --method, describe ID, commands FILTER, $N references in
run --cmd (+ integration tests)
- MCP batch: references and a script-text alternative (+ test)
- docs/agents.md; docs/parity.md scored over 275 catalogue features with cargo xtask parity;
ROADMAP: parity ~63% breadth / ~55% overall, ~600 agent-hours remaining
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>
2.8 KiB
Driving DesignCraft from agents and scripts
Every user-visible action in DesignCraft is a command (crates/engine/src/cmd), and every command is reachable
three ways — pick whichever fits the agent:
| Surface | Use it when | Entry point |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | One-shot jobs, shell pipelines, CI: build or edit a document and export it | designcraft-cli run, script, app, describe, commands |
| MCP | Claude and other MCP clients; images of pages and the window come back as content | designcraft-cli mcp (mcp.md) |
| Control channel | Your own client driving the running app (JSON lines over TCP) | designcraft --control 7979 (control-protocol.md) |
Discover commands
designcraft-cli commands footnote # every command whose id/label/menu mentions "footnote"
designcraft-cli describe xref.insert # label, menu path, shortcut and parameters of one command
Parameters are documented on each command (params), e.g. {anchor? | paragraph?: text to find | story? + para?, format?}.
Scripts: several commands, later ones using earlier results
A script is one command per line (command.id {json params}; # comments), JSON lines, or a JSON array of
{command, params}. A parameter string "$N.path" becomes that value of step N's result (0-based, $last for the
previous step); "${N.path}" interpolates inside longer strings.
cat > page.dcs <<'DCS'
frame.create {"rect": [72, 72, 540, 300], "content": "text", "text": "Results of the survey"}
text.select {"story": "$0.story", "anchor": 0, "focus": 0}
footnote.insert {"text": "Survey run in 2026."}
frame.create {"rect": [72, 320, 540, 500], "content": "text", "text": "See ."}
text.select {"story": "$3.story", "anchor": 4, "focus": 4}
xref.insert {"paragraph": "Results", "format": "Paragraph Text & Page Number"}
DCS
designcraft-cli script page.dcs --save page.designcraft --export page.pdf --export page.png
designcraft-cli script page.dcs --connect 7979 # the same steps, live in the running app
The result is JSON: {"completed": n, "results": [...]}, plus failedIndex / failedCommand / error when a step
fails (the exit status is non-zero; --keep-going records errors and continues). run --cmd ID=JSON accepts the
same references, and MCP's batch tool takes commands or script text with them.
The running app
designcraft --sample --control 7979 &
designcraft-cli app type.changeCase '{"case": "title"}' # any command
designcraft-cli app --method ui.screenshot '{"path": "/tmp/w.png"}' # any control-channel method
ui.menu.invoke {command} without params acts like choosing the menu item: a command labelled "…" opens its
dialog, which ui.dialog.set / ui.dialog.confirm fill in and close like a user would.