Docs / Concepts / The verbsVIEW .MD

The verbs

Published 06/11/2026

Run ade with nothing after it and it prints its home screen: a short status line, then every verb with a few words on it. This is that screen, one row per verb.

Group	Verb	What it does
Start	`ade init`	start a project here, or install into this repo
Start	`ade link`	make a plain `ade` work in new shells
Start	`ade config [word]`	find any ade.toml setting, its value and what it does
Start	`ade parts`	list the kit's parts; `parts set x=off` turns one off
Start	`ade setup`	a panel to switch parts on and off, with the diff first
Work	`ade card add <title>`	a change to make, with its paths and done line
Work	`ade loop <card>`	lane, build, review, test, land
Work	`ade conduct`	loop every open card, waking a model only when needed
Work	`ade land <card>`	merge a reviewed, tested lane
Work	`ade push`	send trunk and records; fast-forward only
Look	`ade cockpit`	every open card and its next command
Look	`ade status`	the one line above
Look	`ade watch <card>`	follow a lane live
Look	`ade telemetry`	tokens, cost and week meters
Look	`ade budget`	lines, hooks and refusals against their limits
Decide	`ade decide`	rulings, and questions with a default and a deadline
Decide	`ade digest`	what landed, parked or defaulted today
Tools	`ade handover --role <r>`	an agent's starting context
Tools	`ade q`	store long output, then page or query it
Tools	`ade session`	run a verb detached, list or stop it
Tools	`ade wait`	wait for a condition, with a bound
Tools	`ade graph`	regenerate the code graph
Tools	`ade rehearse`	full loops on throwaway repos, spending nothing
Tools	`ade uninstall`	remove what init wrote, keep your records

Commands has the full help text for each one.

Long output stays out of context#

A test run or a build log can fill a model's context window with lines nobody needs. ade q keeps that out.

Output that goes over the caps in [q] of ade.toml (cap_lines and cap_bytes) is kept whole in .ade/q.sqlite.
What the agent sees is the head, the tail, the lines that look like errors, and a handle such as q17.
ade q show q17 pages through the stored output, ade q grep q17 PATTERN searches it, and ade q list lists what is stored.
ade q run -- CMD runs any command and stores its output the same way. Output within the caps prints whole.
Stored output expires after keep_days, 14 by default.