cli-reference.md

OVC CLI Reference

Complete command reference for the ovc CLI tool.

Repository Commands

Command	Description
init	Create a new encrypted repository (--key, --store, --name)
add <paths...>	Stage files (--all, --force)
commit -m <msg>	Commit staged changes (--sign, --amend, --no-verify)
status	Working tree status (--short)
log	Commit history (--oneline, --graph, --show-signatures, -n N)
diff	Show changes (--staged, --stat, --name-only, branch-a..branch-b)
show [commit]	Display commit details and diff

Branching & History

Command	Description
branch [name]	List, create, or delete (-d, -D force) branches
checkout <target>	Switch branches (-b to create, -- <files> to restore)
merge <branch>	Three-way merge into current branch
rebase <onto>	Rebase current branch onto target
cherry-pick <commit>	Apply a single commit onto HEAD (short hashes supported)
revert <commit>	Create a new commit undoing a previous commit's changes
tag [name]	Create, list, or delete (-d) tags
stash	push, pop, apply, drop, list, clear
reset [commit]	Reset HEAD (--soft, --mixed, --hard, -- <files> to unstage)
clean	Remove untracked files (-n dry run, -f force)

Code Investigation

Command	Description
blame <file>	Line-by-line authorship (-L start,end for ranges)
grep <pattern>	Search file contents (-i, --count)
describe [commit]	Find nearest tag ancestor
shortlog	Commits grouped by author (-s summary, -n sort)
reflog	Show reference update history
ls-files	List tracked files (--staged, --modified, --untracked)
notes	add, show, remove: commit annotations
archive	Export tree as tar or zip (--format, -o)
bisect	Binary search for a bug-introducing commit

Key Management

Command	Description
key generate	Generate Ed25519+X25519 key pair (--name, --identity)
key list	List keys in ~/.ssh/ovc/
key export <name>	Export for Bitwarden/1Password
key import <file>	Import from password manager export
key add <pubkey>	Grant a public key access to the repo
key remove <fingerprint>	Revoke access
key authorized	List authorized keys for this repo
verify [commit]	Verify a commit's Ed25519 signature

Access Control & Security

Command	Description
access list	List users with access and their roles
access grant <key> --role <role>	Grant access with a role (read, write, admin, owner)
access revoke <fingerprint>	Revoke a user's access
access set-role <fingerprint> --role <role>	Change a user's role
branch-protect <branch>	Set branch protection (--required-approvals N, --require-ci)
branch-protect <branch> --remove	Remove branch protection

Cloud & Sync

Command	Description
remote add <name> <url>	Add remote (--backend local|gcs)
remote list	List configured remotes
remote remove <name>	Remove a remote
push	Push to remote
pull	Pull from remote
sync	Merge remote changes and save (for cloud collaboration)
sync-status	Show sync status

Actions (CI/CD)

Command	Description
actions init	Auto-detect languages, generate .ovc/actions.yml
actions list	List configured actions
actions run [names...]	Run actions (--trigger, --fix)
actions history	View run history
actions detect	Detect project languages
actions secrets	list, set <name> <value>, remove <name>: manage secrets vault

Utilities & Management

Command	Description
git-import <path>	Import a Git repository into OVC
git-export <file>	Export an OVC repository to Git
gc	Garbage collect unreachable objects
submodule	add, status, update, remove: nested repositories
web / ui / gui	Open the web UI in your browser
serve	Start API server + web UI (--port, --bind, --repos-dir)
daemon	Manage background server (install, uninstall, start, stop)
onboard	Interactive setup wizard for new users

Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Purpose
OVC_KEY	Default key name (stored in ~/.ssh/ovc/)
OVC_KEY_PASSPHRASE	Key passphrase (or omit for interactive prompt)
OVC_SIGN_COMMITS	Set to true to auto-sign all commits
OVC_AUTHOR_NAME	Default commit author name
OVC_AUTHOR_EMAIL	Default commit author email
OVC_PASSWORD	Repository password (for password-based repos)
OVC_PORT	API server port (default: 9742)
OVC_REPOS_DIR	API server repos directory
OVC_CORS_ORIGINS	Allowed CORS origins for API
OVC_WORKDIR_MAP	Map repo IDs to working directories for the API server
OVC_LLM_ENABLED	Enable LLM-powered features at the server level
OVC_LLM_BASE_URL	Base URL of the OpenAI-compatible LLM server
OVC_LLM_MODEL	Model name for LLM completions
OVC_LLM_API_KEY	API key for the LLM server
OVC_LLM_MAX_TOKENS	Maximum context tokens for LLM requests (default: 32768)
OVC_LLM_TIMEOUT	LLM request timeout in seconds (default: 120)