Safe automation workflow

The reliable write sequence is context → apply → validate. It gives an Agent or script a bounded view, prevents writes based on stale data, and proves the committed file still satisfies the requested validation level.

1. Read a bounded context

eidos context tracker.eidos Tasks \
  --fields Title,Status \
  --limit 50

context returns file revision, compact schema, and logical rows. Add --full only when stable IDs, system fields, settings, relations, and saved views are needed.

Filters use portable JSON and may reference fields by name or stable ID:

eidos context tracker.eidos Tasks \
  --where '{"op":"ne","field":"Status","value":"done"}' \
  --fields Title,Status

ne is the Boolean complement of eq, so an empty Status also matches. Add an is-not-null rule when empty values should be excluded.

2. Apply an exact change

Save a request as request.json or pass it on stdin:

{
  "revision": "1",
  "table": "Tasks",
  "match": { "_id": "019..." },
  "expect": 1,
  "set": { "Status": "doing" },
  "returning": ["Title", "Status"]
}

eidos apply tracker.eidos request.json

revision rejects stale work. expect prevents an unexpectedly broad update. The CLI validates the proposed final state before commit and returns the rows requested by returning.

3. Validate the committed file

eidos validate tracker.eidos --level full

Treat a nonzero exit status at any step as a failed workflow. Do not continue from guessed or partially parsed output.

Lower-level operations

rows add, rows update, rows delete, and schema-apply remain available for automation that already owns stable IDs and revision state. Schema changes support dry-run execution against the real transaction path before commit.

eidos schema-apply tracker.eidos \
  --expected-revision 1 \
  --op @schema-change.json \
  --dry-run