CLI overview

PCPM exposes a small set of verbs. Each one has a focused job; the descriptions here are one-paragraph summaries, with full details on the dedicated page.

Workspace lifecycle

• pcpm init — Initialise a workspace (pcpm.json, Directory.Packages.props).
• pcpm convert — Migrate an existing solution (with or without CPM) into a PCPM workspace.

Dependencies

• pcpm add <pkg> — Add a direct dependency. Writes the version to Directory.Packages.props, adds <PackageReference /> to one or more .csproj files, and (by default) runs pcpm install.
• pcpm install — Resolve the transitive graph, materialise packages into the store, hardlink to ~/.nuget/packages, and run dotnet restore.
• pcpm remove <pkg> — Remove a direct dependency. Inverse of pcpm add.
• pcpm list — Pretty-print pcpm.lock as a Spectre.Console table.
• pcpm why <pkg> — Show the chains of dependents that pulled <pkg> into the lockfile.

Maintenance

• pcpm outdated — Query the feed for newer versions, report the bump type (major / minor / patch).
• pcpm audit — Scan the resolved graph against known vulnerability advisories.
• pcpm doctor — Diagnose common environment issues — store integrity, dotnet SDK detection, feed reachability.

Store

• pcpm store status — Disk usage of the global content-addressable store.
• pcpm store path — Print the store path.
• pcpm store prune (reserved for a future release) — drop hashes that aren’t referenced by any lockfile.

CI

• pcpm ci — Strict, fail-fast install — refuses if pcpm.lock is stale or missing.

Common flags

Most commands accept a small set of flags:

Flag	Effect
--cwd <path>	Run as if pcpm was invoked from <path>.
--config <path>	Use a different pcpm.json file.
--quiet / -q	Suppress non-error output.
--verbose / -v	Print every resolver decision.
--no-color	Disable ANSI colour output.
--help / -h	Show command-specific help.

Conventions

• <pkg> is a placeholder for a package id (e.g. Serilog).
• <version> is a placeholder for a version range, in the same syntax as <PackageReference /> in CPM. e.g. 3.1.1, [3.0.0, 4.0.0), 3.0.*.
• Commands are case-insensitive in their first word (PCPM init and pcpm init are the same).
• Flags can be combined after a single --. e.g. pcpm add Serilog --version 3.1.1 --no-install.

Exit codes

PCPM uses a small set of exit codes:

Code	Meaning
0	Success.
1	Resolution or installation error.
2	Invalid arguments or configuration.
3	Network error (feed unreachable).
4	Lockfile validation error (used by pcpm ci).
64	Internal error (please open an issue).

dotnet run propagates these. CI scripts can rely on them.