cli-structure

CLI Subcommand Structure Rules

Current command tree: internal/interface-adapters/cli/README.md

Rule 1: Command Hierarchy Order

CLI subcommands follow the order: [wallet type] → [verb] → [target]

<wallet>  <verb>     <target>
keygen    create     key
keygen    sign       tx
watch     import     address
watch     send       tx

Verb Layer contains action-oriented subcommands (e.g., create, sign, import, send).

Target Layer contains the object of the action (e.g., key, tx, address, multisig).

• multisig is a target — it lives at the target layer under a verb (e.g., watch send multisig), not as a top-level verb.
• Chain-specific API calls (e.g., api btc, api eth) are an exception: they are allowed as verbs to directly invoke chain node RPC commands. This exception applies only to low-level node API wrappers that do not fit naturally into the generic verb/target hierarchy.

# Standard pattern
keygen  create  key
keygen  create  multisig   ← multisig is a target

# Exception: chain API commands act as verbs
keygen  api  btc  <rpc-command>
watch   api  eth  <rpc-command>

Rule 2: Unsupported Coin Type Handling

Some CLI commands are only valid for specific chains. When a command is called with an unsupported coin type, do not silently skip — output a human-readable message indicating the command is recognized but not supported for that chain.

// ✅ GOOD: explicit unsupported message
switch coinType {
case coin.BTC, coin.BCH:
    cmd.AddCommand(newDescriptorCmd(btcClient))
default:
    fmt.Printf("[WARN] descriptor command is not supported for coin type: %s\n", coinType)
}

// ❌ BAD: silent no-op
switch coinType {
case coin.BTC, coin.BCH:
    cmd.AddCommand(newDescriptorCmd(btcClient))
// other coins simply get nothing — no feedback
}

The message format should follow the pattern:

[WARN] <command> command is not supported for coin type: <coinType>