Agentedit CLI

AgentEdit CLI

Use agentedit for safe, targeted file changes. Prefer it over broad patch parsing when the caller can describe edits as explicit replacements, inserts, line-range updates, appends, or writes.

Invoke the Tool

Prefer the installed binary when it exists:

agentedit -spec edits.yaml

If working inside this repository or the binary is not installed, run:

go run ./cmd/agentedit -- -spec edits.yaml

Choose Actions

• Use replace for one exact old-to-new substitution.
• Use replace with replace_all: true only when every match should change.
• Use insert_before or insert_after with one exact anchor.
• Use replace_lines for deterministic line-range rewrites.
• Use append to add content at the end of a file.
• Use write for full-file replacement or creation.

Apply Good Defaults

• Keep -fail-on-noop=true so missed matches fail loudly.
• Use -dry-run first when the edit target may have drifted.
• Prefer narrow anchors and exact old strings to avoid ambiguity.
• Set create: true only when the task really intends to create a file.

Example Spec

edits:
  - path: README.md
    action: replace
    old: "Small Go CLIs"
    new: "Small, deterministic Go CLIs"
  - path: config.toml
    action: insert_after
    anchor: "[server]\n"
    new: "port = 8080\n"

Run it:

go run ./cmd/agentedit -- -spec edits.yaml -dry-run -format text