The spacedock binary groups its subcommands into Launch, Setup, and Workflow, plus a top-level spacedock --version (the binary version and contract level). For the exact flags of any command, run spacedock <command> --help, the always-current source of truth; spacedock with no arguments prints the grouped help.
spacedock --version prints the version and contract level, the sandbox posture, then a per-runtime line reporting the installed spacedock plugin version:
spacedock 0.20.1 (contract 1)
Sandbox: available, not enabled (no .safehouse profile)
claude: spacedock 0.20.1
codex: spacedock 0.20.0 (disabled)
pi: spacedock ready
The Sandbox: line is one of enabled (safehouse), available, not enabled (no .safehouse profile), or unavailable (safehouse not on PATH). Each runtime line reads the plugin installed for that host: spacedock <version> when a plugin is installed (with (disabled) appended only when the host reports it disabled), spacedock ready for pi (which launches from skills, not a versioned plugin), spacedock not installed when the host is present but carries no plugin, and not installed when the host binary itself is absent.
spacedock claude, spacedock codex, and spacedock pi start a host with the first officer loaded. Claude Code is the primary surface; Codex and Pi are experimental. The grammar is the same for all three:
spacedock claude [task] [spacedock-flags] [-- host-flags]The task comes first and becomes the launch prompt. Anything after -- forwards verbatim to the host (--model, --resume, and the like). When no plugin is installed, the launcher auto-installs it and launches, so the single command yields a working session; a contract mismatch fails fast. The sandbox flags (--safehouse and its knobs) and the contract-gate flags are listed by spacedock claude --help.
An unsandboxed launch carries no safehouse isolation, so per-action permission prompting is friction without a matching safety gain: spacedock claude starts in --permission-mode auto and spacedock codex in --ask-for-approval on-request. A sandboxed launch instead skips/bypasses approvals (--dangerously-skip-permissions for claude, --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox for codex) since the sandbox is the gate. Either posture is suppressed when you pass your own mode or a resume.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
spacedock install |
Install the per-host plugin, then run the compatibility check |
spacedock doctor |
Run the compatibility check alone |
Both take --host claude|codex|pi (default claude). When doctor reports the plugin is out of date, refresh it with spacedock install. When the plugin is still contract-compatible but a newer one is available, doctor and the front-door launch print an opt-in upgrade hint (run spacedock install --host <host> to refresh); the hint never blocks the launch. See Install Spacedock for the full setup path.
The first officer runs these against workflow state as it moves entities; you operate through it, not by hand. They are documented here for completeness and for the rare direct use (scripting, debugging, restoring a state checkout on a fresh clone).
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
spacedock status |
Read or mutate the state: the entity table (omits the SOURCE column by default; --fields source or --all-fields restores it), --next, --where, --set, --validate, --boot (with --identify, the first officer's Startup identify — discovers the managed workflow(s), folds in the stage taxonomy, and reports the boot sections; PR_STATE is a local pr: view, live PR state is checked at engage; local reads only, no mutation), --read <ref-or-path> (a file's structured frontmatter — including the nested stages: taxonomy, and projectable with --fields — plus a heading offset/lines map, for section-scoped reads; with --checklist / --ac-scan it extracts a stage report's checklist items with line ranges and per-AC evidence citations for the first officer's gate prep; --stage defaults to the entity's current status when omitted (so a bare --read <entity> --checklist reads the current stage's report), and --stage X reads a non-current stage) |
spacedock new |
Create an entity (new [--folder] SLUG) from a body on stdin |
spacedock dispatch |
Build the worker dispatch artifacts (dispatch build, dispatch show-stage-def) |
spacedock state |
Manage a split-root workflow's state checkout (state init resumes one on a fresh clone, state new births one) |
spacedock completion |
Print a bash or zsh completion script |
Operate a workflow covers how the first officer uses status on your behalf. Run spacedock status --help (and the same for each command) for the full flag list, the mutation guards, and the exit codes.