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jjforge

0009. The CLI is `jf`, built on jj-cli

Status: accepted, 2026-10-02. Deciders: jjforge maintainers.

Context

Section titled “Context”

People and agents drive jjforge from a terminal. A separate forge tool next to jj splits their attention, and a copy of jj’s commands would drift from jj.

Options: a standalone client next to jj, a jj alias, or a binary built on jj-cli’s CliRunner, which adds commands to the full set of jj commands. For the name: jjforge, jjf, forge, or jf.

Decision

Section titled “Decision”
  • The CLI is built on jj-cli’s CliRunner. Every jj command works in it, and it adds the forge commands.
  • It is called jf. People type it constantly, so the shortest name wins. It clashes with the JFrog CLI binary, and that cost is accepted. A person who has both installs one under another name.
  • jf talks to the forge only through the public API, as ADR 0002 decides.
  • The CLI is specified in four layers:
    1. Conventions, in cli.md.
    2. Reference, which CI generates from clap and checks for drift.
    3. Behavior, as trycmd scenarios that each cite their requirement.
    4. JSON, which is exactly the OpenAPI schema for the same data.