# Audita CLI Reference

The shared version-2 configuration parser is implemented for `process`, `config
validate`, and `config print-effective`. Profile assembly and process execution are
being reconnected in later work, so the CLI is not yet a usable assembled command.
The [configuration reference](config.md) owns fields, defaults, and validation.

## Commands and help

```sh
audita process <transcript.json> --glossary <glossary.yml> [flags]
audita config validate --config <config.yml> [flags]
audita config print-effective [flags]
```

Root invocation, `--help`, `-h`, and command help succeed without loading a config
file or resolving secrets. Unknown commands and flags return exit code `2`.
`process` accepts exactly one transcript path, either before the flags or after
them. With flags first, put the transcript last. Both config commands reject
positional arguments and process-only flags.

All three commands accept `--config <path>` and `--overlay <name>`. `config validate`
requires an explicit nonempty `--config`; the other commands select the explicit
file, then `/usr/local/etc/audita/config.yml`, then `/etc/audita/config.yml`.
Missing system candidates are skipped; inaccessible selected files are errors.
No file means a configuration error. `AUDITA_CONFIG` is ignored. The selected
overlay is loaded beside the main file, not used to locate profile files.

## Setting overrides

Only flags actually supplied override file or overlay settings. `--modules ''`
clears the module pipeline, and an explicit numeric zero reaches configuration
validation. The shared setting flags are:

| Setting | Flags |
| --- | --- |
| Profile selection | `--proposal-profile`, `--validation-profile` |
| Pipeline and output | `--modules`, `--output-schema` |
| Validation budget | `--validation-max-prompt-tokens` |
| Chunking | `--target-sections`, `--max-section-tokens`, `--min-section-tokens` |
| Normalization (numeric seconds) | `--normalize-max-segment-gap`, `--normalize-ellipsis-gap`, `--normalize-max-segment-duration`, `--normalize-max-segment-tokens` |
| Confidence thresholds | `--glossary-confidence-threshold`, `--homophones-confidence-threshold`, `--spoken-word-confidence-threshold`, `--grammar-confidence-threshold` |
| Context | `--transcript-description` |
| Diagnostics | `--work-dir`, `--work-dir-retention` |

`process` alone accepts `--glossary` (required), `--output`, and `--report-json`.
Per-role model, base URL, key, timeout, retry, and concurrency flags have been
removed. Models and generation controls belong to PromptKit profiles, backend
credentials and capacity to configuration, and retry/deadline settings to the
shared LLM section. Legacy configuration environment overrides are ignored.

## Streams and exit status

`config validate` prints `config is valid` on success. `config print-effective`
currently writes ConfigKit's redacted effective-settings YAML; selected-profile
and provenance views are scheduled with profile assembly. The effective YAML is
for inspection and is not guaranteed to be a reloadable input file.

For `process`, `--output` writes the corrected transcript to a file and leaves
stdout empty on success. Without it, stdout carries transcript JSON only on
success. `--report-json` writes a separate report file. Stderr carries readable
errors and diagnostic locations. A successful run can contain skipped corrections
or warnings; see the [report contract](integrations/output-files.md).

Exit codes are `0` for success, `1` for runtime or output failure, and `2` for
usage or configuration input errors. Configuration commands never contact a
provider merely to parse settings; profile validation is being connected next.

See the [input files](integrations/transcript-glossary-files.md),
[subprocess contract](integrations/subprocess.md), and
[artifact lifecycle](operations.md) for their respective details.