rekal-cli CLAUDE.md

A set of Claude Code instructions for Rekal CLI, a single-binary command-line tool with built-in storage, search, memory, and compression components.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps with design decisions, problem investigation, command changes, package changes, documentation updates, and maintenance of the CLI's architecture.
Why use it?
It tells the agent to consult Rekal's guiding rules and existing memories before making decisions, while keeping commands and documentation consistent.

Instructions file

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add instructions/rekal-dev/rekal-cli/claude-md
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rekal-dev/rekal-cli
Per session 16,650 This file is loaded in full into every session.
When invoked 16,650 The same file — it is already loaded in full.
Security scan B 1 finding. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.16650 $0.16650
Opus 5 $0.08325 $0.08325
Sonnet 5 $0.03330 $0.03330
Haiku 4.5 $0.01665 $0.01665

Measured 2d ago against content hash a3dfa5423ffb, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

rekal-cli CLAUDE.md scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Enumerates other installed skillsmediumAgent snooping

Other skills' SKILL.md files reveal prompts, capabilities and secrets that should be invisible to peers.

dir (`.claude/skills/<name>/.rekal-version`); `maybeRefreshStaleSkill` (called
CLAUDE.md · 996 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 996 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Rekal CLI

Soul

Before making any design decision, read SOUL.md. It defines the two problems Rekal exists to solve and the seven beliefs that guide every choice. If a decision conflicts with the soul, the decision is wrong.

When working on a problem, consult Rekal's own memories first:

rekal "<describe the problem>"

The prior context for what you're working on may already exist.

Standing Rules

  • Keep this file up to date. Any change to commands, packages, files, or behavior must be reflected here. Update --help text when command behavior changes. Update docs/spec/command/ when a command spec changes. Stale docs are worse than no docs.
  • Consult SOUL.md before design decisions. Consult rekal before starting work on a problem.

Architecture

Single binary. Everything embedded — CLI, database engine, embedding model, compression dictionary.

  • CLI: Cobra (github.com/spf13/cobra)
  • Storage: DuckDB via github.com/marcboeker/go-duckdb (database/sql interface)
  • Compression: zstd via github.com/klauspost/compress with preset dictionary
  • IDs: ULID via github.com/oklog/ulid/v2
  • Embeddings: LSA (gonum) + Nomic (platform-specific builds)
  • Build: mise, go modules
  • Lint: golangci-lint v2 (2.8.0)
  • Language: Go 1.25.6

Two databases in .rekal/:

  • data.db — immutable source of truth. Append-only. Pushed to git.
  • index.db — local derived index. Rebuilt from data.db. Never pushed.

This split is a direct consequence of the soul: thin on the wire, rich on the machine.

The .rekal/ store lives in the repository's main worktree; every linked git worktree resolves to that one shared store via gitx.MainWorktreeRoot (a no-op for non-worktree repos, so existing installs need no migration). All store-path helpers (db.StoreDir, cli.RekalDir, and the Open*/*Path functions) funnel through it; git-state helpers (HeadSHA/CurrentBranch) and session discovery keep using the invoking worktree. The no-op is enforced by identity, not by string: git reports worktree paths with symlinks resolved, so a repo reached through a symlinked directory (macOS /var/private/var, or any symlinked project dir) would otherwise come back under a different name for the same place and move .rekal/ off the store that already exists — preferCallerPath stats both and hands the caller's own spelling back.

Read the full file on GitHub · 996 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 996 lines · 16,650 tokens per session scan B a3dfa5423ffb

Subscribe to this mod's changes

rekal-cli CLAUDE.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository rekal-dev/rekal-cli (152 stars, last pushed 29d ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 16,650 tokens to every session, about $0.0833 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (enumerates other installed skills). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.