---
title: CLI Reference
description: >-
Comprehensive reference for the Panache CLI, including all commands, options, and usage examples.
---
# Command-Line Help for `panache`
This document contains the help content for the `panache` command-line program.
## `panache`
Panache is a CLI formatter and LSP for Quarto (.qmd), Pandoc, and Markdown files written in Rust. It understands Quarto/Pandoc-specific syntax that other formatters like Prettier and mdformat struggle with, including fenced divs, tables, and math formatting.
**Usage:** `panache [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>`
For help with a specific command, see: `panache help <command>`.
###### **Subcommands:**
* `format` — Format a Quarto, Pandoc, or Markdown document
* `parse` — Parse and display the CST tree for debugging
* `lsp` — Start the Language Server Protocol server
* `lint` — Lint a Quarto, Pandoc, or Markdown document
* `clean` — Delete cache data
* `debug` — Debug utilities for parser/formatter diagnostics
###### **Options:**
* `--config <CONFIG>` — Path to a custom configuration file. If not specified, Panache will search for .panache.toml or panache.toml in the current directory and its parents, then fall back to ~/.config/panache/config.toml.
* `--stdin-filename <PATH>` — Synthetic filename to associate with stdin input. This is useful for editor integrations that pipe content via stdin but still need Panache to infer flavor/extensions from file extension (for example: --stdin-filename doc.qmd).
* `--color <WHEN>` — Control when colored output is used
Default value: `auto`
Possible values: `auto`, `always`, `never`
* `--no-color` — Disable colored output (equivalent to --color never)
* `-q`, `--quiet` — Suppress informational status messages on stdout (e.g. "Formatted X", "N file left unchanged", "All files are correctly formatted", "No issues found") as well as per-violation lint diagnostics. Errors are still written to stderr, and primary command output (such as formatted content when reading from stdin, JSON/Markdown reports, or the parsed CST) continues to print so that pipelines keep working. The process exit code still reflects whether issues were found in --check mode.
* `--isolated` — Ignore all discovered configuration files
* `--no-cache` — Disable all lint/format cache reads and writes for this run. Can also be enabled with PANACHE_NO_CACHE.
* `--cache-dir <CACHE_DIR>` — Path to the cache directory for this invocation. Overrides config `cache-dir`. Can also be set with PANACHE_CACHE_DIR.
* `-j`, `--jobs <N>` — Number of worker threads to use when formatting or linting multiple files. 0 (the default) selects an automatic level based on available CPU cores. 1 forces serial processing. Single-file invocations always run on one thread; the inner external-formatter pool (see external-max-parallel) is only used when this value is 1 or when only one file is being processed. Can also be set with PANACHE_JOBS.
Default value: `0`
## `panache format`
Format a Quarto, Pandoc, or R Markdown document according to Panache's formatting rules. By default, formats files in place. Use --check to verify formatting without making changes. With --verify, Panache runs parser/formatter invariants without writing changes to disk. Stdin input always outputs to stdout.
**Usage:** `panache format [OPTIONS] [FILES]...`
###### **Arguments:**
* `<FILES>` — Path(s) to the input file(s) or directories to format. If not provided, reads from stdin. Supports .qmd, .md, .Rmd/.Rmarkdown, and other Markdown-based formats. When file paths are provided, the files are formatted in place by default. Stdin input always outputs to stdout. Supports glob patterns (e.g., *.md) and directories (e.g., . or docs/). Directories are traversed recursively, respecting .gitignore files.
###### **Options:**
* `--check` — Check if the file is already formatted according to Panache's rules without making any changes. If the file is not formatted, displays a diff and exits with code 1. If formatted, exits with code 0. Useful for CI/CD pipelines.
* `--range <START:END>` — Format only the specified line range. Lines are 1-indexed and inclusive. The range will be expanded to complete block boundaries to ensure well-formed output. For example, if you select part of a list, the entire list will be formatted. Format: --range START:END (e.g., --range 5:10 formats lines 5 through 10).
Note: This feature is experimental. Range filtering may not work correctly in all cases.
* `--verify` — Run smoke-check invariants: (1) parser losslessness (input == parsed CST text) and (2) formatter idempotency (format(format(x)) == format(x)). When formatting files by path (including directories), --verify does not write any changes to disk. Exits with code 1 when verification fails.
Deprecated: prefer `panache debug format --checks all`.
* `--force-exclude` — Apply exclude patterns to explicitly provided files
## `panache parse`
Parse a document and display its Concrete Syntax Tree (CST) for debugging and understanding how Panache interprets the document structure. The CST shows all block and inline elements detected by the parser.
**Usage:** `panache parse [OPTIONS] [FILE]`
###### **Arguments:**
* `<FILE>` — Path to the input file to parse. If not provided, reads from stdin. The parser respects extension flags from the configuration file.
###### **Options:**
* `--json <PATH>` — Write the parsed CST to the given JSON file instead of printing the debug tree. The output includes node kinds, text ranges, and token text.
* `--verify` — Run parser losslessness verification (input == parsed CST text). Exits with code 1 when verification fails.
Deprecated: prefer `panache debug format --checks losslessness`.
## `panache lsp`
Start the Panache language server protocol (LSP) server for editor integration. The LSP server provides formatting capabilities to editors like VS Code, Neovim, and others that support LSP.
**Usage:** `panache lsp [OPTIONS]`
The LSP server communicates via stdin/stdout and is typically launched automatically by your editor's LSP client. You generally don't need to run this command manually.
For editor configuration examples, see: https://github.com/jolars/panache#editor-integration
###### **Options:**
* `--debug` — Enable verbose LSP debug logging to ~/.local/state/panache/lsp-debug.log (or $XDG_STATE_HOME/panache/lsp-debug.log when XDG_STATE_HOME is set). Logs are written to file to avoid interfering with the LSP protocol over stdout.
## `panache lint`
Lint a document to check for correctness issues and best practice violations. Unlike the formatter which handles style, the linter catches semantic problems like syntax errors, heading hierarchy issues, and broken references.
**Usage:** `panache lint [OPTIONS] [FILES]...`
Configure rules in panache.toml with [lint] section.
###### **Arguments:**
* `<FILES>` — Path(s) to the input file(s) or directories to check. If not provided, reads from stdin. Supports .qmd, .md, .Rmd/.Rmarkdown, and other Markdown-based formats. Supports glob patterns (e.g., *.md) and directories (e.g., . or docs/). Directories are traversed recursively, respecting .gitignore files.
###### **Options:**
* `--check` — Exit with code 1 if violations found (CI mode)
* `--fix` — Automatically fix violations where possible
* `--message-format <MESSAGE_FORMAT>` — Diagnostic rendering format
Default value: `human`
Possible values: `human`, `short`
* `--force-exclude` — Apply exclude patterns to explicitly provided files
## `panache clean`
Delete Panache's on-disk cache data.
**Usage:** `panache clean [OPTIONS]`
###### **Options:**
* `--all` — Remove all Panache cache buckets
## `panache debug`
Debugging utilities for parse/format workflows. These commands are intended for diagnosing parser losslessness and formatter idempotency failures in repositories.
**Usage:** `panache debug <COMMAND>`
###### **Subcommands:**
* `format` — Run parser+formatter checks and emit diagnostics
## `panache debug format`
Run parser+formatter checks and emit diagnostics
**Usage:** `panache debug format [OPTIONS] [FILES]...`
###### **Arguments:**
* `<FILES>` — Input file path(s) or directories
###### **Options:**
* `--checks <CHECKS>` — Which checks to run
Default value: `all`
Possible values: `idempotency`, `losslessness`, `all`
* `--json` — Emit JSON output for machine-readable tooling
* `--report` — Emit Markdown report output suitable for issue descriptions
* `--dump-dir <DIR>` — Directory where failing artifacts are written
* `--dump-passes` — Write input/parse/format pass artifacts to --dump-dir for every file
* `--force-exclude` — Apply exclude patterns to explicitly provided files