mant

mant is ManT's complete native document command: an interactive terminal reader for people, a deterministic structured CLI for scripts and agents, and a read-only stdio MCP server. Every surface consumes the same normalized document model.

mant git                              # interactive reader in a terminal
mant gcc --outline                    # semantic hierarchy for an agent
mant tar --explain=--exclude          # retrieve one option directly
mant README.md --node 1               # select one Markdown section
mant git --format json --compact      # deterministic machine output
mant --mcp                            # read-only MCP over stdio

Install

Download a supported prebuilt GitHub Release through cargo-binstall:

cargo binstall mant

Or compile from crates.io:

cargo install mant --locked

Source builds require Rust 1.88+. Linux and macOS manual support also requires a C compiler and zlib development headers; Windows builds are pure Rust.

Targets without a matching archive fall back from cargo binstall to a Cargo source build. Public macOS archives remain disabled until they can be signed and notarized.

Interactive reader

An ordinary complete query opens the reader when standard input and output are terminals. Use --ui to require it explicitly:

mant git
mant printf --section 3
mant README.md --ui

The reader provides a resizable outline, collapsible sections, semantic option nodes, settled-scroll following, page-local links, full-document search, keyboard and mouse input, and optional tldr quick references before the full document. Redirected output stays deterministic instead of emitting terminal control sequences.

Structured queries for agents and scripts

Discover the document before selecting only the content that matters:

mant gcc --outline
mant gcc --outline sections
mant gcc --node 4.2 --format markdown
mant tar --explain=--exclude
mant tar --search=--acls --context 1

Output formats include Markdown, text, man-style plain text, and JSON. Search results carry reusable outline selectors and exact generated-Markdown coordinates. Machine consumers can discover the authoritative contracts from the installed executable:

mant --schema request
mant --schema all --compact
mant --protocol-version

mant --mcp exposes the same read-only document discovery, outline, excerpt, explanation, and search capabilities over stdio JSON-RPC. MCP stdout contains protocol messages only; use CLI JSON output to inspect lowering diagnostics.

Document sources

On Linux and macOS, ManT indexes raw, gzip, and zstd manual sources and parses their roff through bundled libmandoc. It does not require a system man or mandoc executable at runtime. Windows intentionally omits this Unix source family.

Reusable Markdown documents can be registered by filename below:

• Linux: ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/mant/documents
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/ManT/documents
• Windows user: %APPDATA%\ManT\documents
• Windows system: %PROGRAMDATA%\ManT\documents

Nested directories and symlinks are discovered recursively. An unqualified mant NAME resolves registered Markdown before a native manual with the same name. Explicit Markdown paths and mant - standard input remain available for one-off documents; --manual bypasses registered Markdown on Unix.

When compatible local tldr data exists, ManT prepends it as reserved outline node 0. Reads prefer installed-client caches and then ManT's private cache; mant --update-tldr updates through an installed client or the private checkout.

Crate architecture

• mant-ast defines the versioned document and query contracts.
• libmandoc-rs owns the Unix libmandoc parser boundary.
• mant-core performs source lookup, lowering, projections, search, and output.
• mant-ui provides the source-neutral Ratatui frontend.
• mant owns command-line, terminal-selection, and MCP process boundaries.

The complete user manual, protocol reference, and release archives live in the ManT repository.

License

Apache-2.0. Unix builds also include the upstream mandoc licenses distributed by libmandoc-rs.