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+ and a C compiler. Linux and macOS additionally require zlib development headers; Windows uses the checked MSVC memory-parser configuration without a system zlib.

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 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 git --tldr
mant gcc --node 4.2 --format markdown
mant tar --explain=--exclude
mant tar --search=--acls --context 1

Output formats include Markdown, text, and JSON. A complete native roff manual also supports --format man for manual-only plain text without tldr content. 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, macOS, and Windows, 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. A leaf manual-page symlink may point outside its indexed root, but directory symlinks are not traversed and every .so target must remain inside that root. Windows defaults to %USERPROFILE%\.local\share\man and also honors configured manual paths.

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: %APPDATA%\ManT\documents

Only immediate regular Markdown files are discovered; nested directories and symlinks are ignored. Git or direct archive sources configured in sibling sources.toml can be installed with mant --update-docs and selected with --source. Removed source tables are reported as orphaned installed data; preview cleanup with mant --prune-docs --dry-run and apply it with mant --prune-docs. An unqualified name resolves root documents, sources by descending priority and ascending source name, then a native manual. See the complete document-source guide.

When compatible local tldr data exists, an unqualified query prepends it as reserved outline node 0. --tldr selects only that node, while --manual and --section select only native manual content. 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 cross-platform libmandoc parser boundary.
• mant-sources owns local Markdown discovery and optional source updates.
• mant-core performs document 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. Native builds also contain the separately attributed upstream mandoc sources distributed by libmandoc-rs.