exkernel

CLI for the Existential Kernel ontology framework.

Navigate, validate, and visualize ontology term definitions organized in scoping rings.

Install

cargo install exkernel

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/existential-kernel/exkernel
cd exkernel
cargo install --path .

Usage

All commands auto-detect the ontology directory. If you're inside an ontology repo (one with exkernel.toml), it just works. Otherwise, use --ontology <path> or run exkernel fetch first.

Lookup a term

# Print the full markdown definition
exkernel lookup existence

# Output as structured JSON (title, ontology, axiology, epistemology sections)
exkernel lookup existence --json

Navigate scoping rings

# List all rings and their terms
exkernel scope

# List only Ring 0 (kernel) terms
exkernel scope 0

# List Ring 1 (software) terms
exkernel scope 1

Lint ontology nodes

# Validate all nodes in src/
exkernel lint

# Validate a specific directory or file
exkernel lint src/existence.md

Checks:

• Title (# Term) is present
• Required sections: ## [Ontology], ## [Axiology], ## [Epistemology]
• Broken links: [term](./term.md) references where src/term.md doesn't exist

Exit code 0 if clean, 1 if errors found.

Generate relationship graph

# DOT format (pipe to graphviz)
exkernel graph | dot -Tsvg -o ontology.svg

# Filter to a specific ring
exkernel graph 0 | dot -Tpng -o kernel.png

# JSON adjacency list
exkernel graph --format json

Fetch an ontology

# Clone from GitHub
exkernel fetch github:existential-kernel/ontology

# Pull all sources defined in exkernel.toml
exkernel fetch

Sources are stored in ~/.exkernel/sources/{org}/{repo}/.

Configuration

Ontologies are configured via exkernel.toml:

[meta]
name = "existential-kernel/ontology"
description = "Reference existential ontology"

[rings.0]
name = "kernel"
description = "14 universal terms, always loaded"
terms = ["existence", "entity", "abstraction", "scope", "context", ...]

[rings.1]
name = "software"
description = "The DDD bridge"
terms = ["project", "model", "algorithm", ...]

[sources]
upstream = "github:existential-kernel/ontology"

Commands (v0.1.0)

License

Apache-2.0