CLI overview

The forge command surface is defined as data (src/commands.js) and reconciled against the docs by forge docs check, so a command can’t ship or disappear without the docs noticing. Commands are organized into five groups.

Core

Bootstrap and maintain: init, sync, doctor, catalog, docs, update.

Memory

Cross-session and team memory: cortex, recall, remember, brain, ledger, reuse, handoff, decide.

Substrate

The pre-action gate and its stages: substrate, preflight, route, impact, scope, context, anchor, diagnose, imagine, lean.

Quality

Verification and safety: verify, scan, spec, taste, uicheck, harden.

Config

Providers, cost, dashboards, brand, atlas, stack: config, cost, dash, brand, atlas, stack.

Conventions

Advisory by default. Set FORGE_ENFORCE=1 to turn the substrate into a hard block on the strongest signals (vacuous prompt, un-assemblable required context, blast radius over the default 25-file threshold).
Quiet by default. The per-command Forge <cmd> — … title is branding chrome behind --verbose / FORGE_VERBOSE; a command emits its result first.
Pipe-friendly output. Plain text when piped; on a TTY it adds brand-palette color and confidence meters. NO_COLOR turns color off, FORCE_COLOR=1 forces it on.
--json is available on the substrate and most analysis commands for scripting.

Environment variables

Variable	Effect
`FORGE_ENFORCE=1`	Turn the substrate’s strongest advisory signals into a hard block.
`FORGE_GUARD_STRICT=1`	Escalate the secret redactor’s `DEGRADED` warning into a blocking exit. By default a redaction failure prints `secret redaction DEGRADED` to stderr and lets output through; strict mode refuses to emit anything the redactor couldn’t fully scrub. Use it in CI or on shared boxes where an unredacted line is worse than a failed command.
`FORGE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1`	Silence the “commits behind upstream” notice in `forge doctor`.
`FORGE_NO_HINT=1`	Mute the one-time init tip that prompts you to run `forge init`.
`FORGE_VERBOSE=1`	Show the per-command banner (`Forge <cmd> — …`) that is hidden by default.
`FORGE_EMBED=1`	Opt in to the embedding tier for memory recall (MinHash stays the zero-dependency default).

Run forge --help for the always-current list, or forge catalog for the Start-Here index of every tool, crew, and guard with a one-line why.

New in v0.19+

Several commands and flags are landing in the v0.19 line. They are documented in their group pages and flagged inline:

Command / flag	Group	What it does
`forge know`	Memory	Route a fact to its correct storage home.
`forge deja`	Memory	Similar-past-work lookup.
`forge precommit`	Quality	Commit-level verification gate.
`forge radar`	Quality	Dependency-currency rings.
`forge report`	Config	Static HTML report of the repo’s Forge state.
`forge tools`	Config	Primary-tool selection + gitignore wiring.
`forge verify --deep`	Quality	Multi-lens consensus verification.
`forge update --to`	Core	Pin or downgrade to a specific version.

Core

Memory

Substrate

Quality

Config

​Conventions

​Environment variables

​New in v0.19+

Conventions

Environment variables

New in v0.19+