pastel

A command-line tool to generate, analyze, convert, and manipulate colors

71% pass rate

2/8 principles met

Spec Coverage

How many of the spec's requirements were verified for this tool. See /coverage for the full matrix.

Level	Total	Verified	Unverified
MUST	28	19	9
SHOULD	21	13	8
MAY	10	10	0

FAIL Each subcommand's `--help` ships at least one invocation example Progressive Help Discovery subcommands missing example invocations in their `--help`: colorcheck, complement, darken, desaturate, distinct, gray, lighten, list, paint, pick, rotate, saturate, textcolor, to-gray. Examples teach agents the call shape faster than option tables; use clap's `after_help` or a dedicated `Examples:` block.
FAIL Destructive subcommands require `--force` or `--yes` Safe Retries & Mutation Boundaries destructive subcommand(s) without `--force` or `--yes`: format. Irreversible operations must require explicit confirmation so they can't be invoked accidentally.
WARN Quiet mode available Bounded, High-Signal Responses no --quiet/-q flag detected in --help output

PASS	Non-interactive by default
SKIP	Non-interactive gate flag advertised in --help	target satisfies P1 via alternative gate (help-on-bare or stdin-primary)
WARN	Flags advertise env-var bindings in --help	5 flag(s) found in --help but no `[env: NAME]` bindings advertised
PASS	Secret-bearing flags expose stdin or *-file companion
WARN	`--help` advertises default values for flags	no default-value annotations found in --help. SHOULD-tier — agents reading help text need to see what value a flag falls back to when omitted (`[default: <value>]` per clap convention).
PASS	Rich-TUI affordance for TTY contexts

OPT-OUT	Structured output support	no --output/--format flag detected in any subcommand — tool does not ship structured output.
N/A	Structured-output CLI exposes its schema at runtime	antecedent `p2-json-output` is opt_out: no --output/--format flag detected in any subcommand — tool does not ship structured output.
WARN	--json / --jsonl short aliases for --output	no --json or --jsonl short alias found. Agents and pipelines benefit from short forms alongside the canonical `--output` enum.
WARN	`--raw` flag for pipe-safe unformatted output	no `--raw` flag advertised. MAY-tier — useful for pipelines that want to strip formatting before piping to other tools.
SKIP	`--output` advertises additional formats beyond text/json	no `--output` or `--format` flag advertised; vacuous skip for MAY-tier extra formats.
PASS	Bad invocation exits with structured usage-error code (2)
SKIP	Errors emit JSON envelope with `error`/`kind`/`message` under `--output json`	binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; MUST applies only to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract.
SKIP	JSON success and error envelopes share their non-payload key set	binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; envelope-consistency only applies to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract.

PASS	Help flag produces useful output
PASS	Version flag works (`--version` plus short alias)
PASS	Version flag works (`--version` plus short alias)
WARN	`examples` subcommand or `--examples` flag for curated usage patterns	no `examples` subcommand or `--examples` flag found. MAY-tier — a curated usage block keeps agents from hunting through long help text.
WARN	Short `-h` summary differs from `--help` long form	`-h` and `--help` produce byte-identical output. SHOULD-tier — clap renders the short summary on `-h` and the full description on `--help` when `long_about` is set; collapsing them gives agents no concise list-level grep target.
FAIL	Each subcommand's `--help` ships at least one invocation example	subcommands missing example invocations in their `--help`: colorcheck, complement, darken, desaturate, distinct, gray, lighten, list, paint, pick, rotate, saturate, textcolor, to-gray. Examples teach agents the call shape faster than option tables; use clap's `after_help` or a dedicated `Examples:` block.
WARN	Help text pairs human and `--output json` example invocations	no paired text + `--output json` example found within 5 lines in top-level or any subcommand `--help`. Pairing keeps agents from reverse-engineering the JSON invocation from the text one.

PASS	Rejects invalid arguments
PASS	Error messages include a hint or remediation phrase
SKIP	`--output json` produces JSON-formatted errors	binary does not advertise `--output json` in --help; SHOULD applies only to CLIs that opt into the JSON contract.

FAIL	Destructive subcommands require `--force` or `--yes`	destructive subcommand(s) without `--force` or `--yes`: format. Irreversible operations must require explicit confirmation so they can't be invoked accidentally.
PASS	Read and write surfaces are both visible in subcommand list

PASS	Handles SIGPIPE gracefully
SKIP	Pager-using CLI ships --no-pager escape hatch	no pager signal (less/more/$PAGER/--pager) in --help
PASS	Respects NO_COLOR
WARN	Subcommand verbs follow community-standard names	3/23 subcommand(s) follow standard verb names. Non-standard: color, colorblind, colorcheck, complement, darken, desaturate, distinct, format, gradient, gray, lighten, mix, paint, pick, random, rotate, saturate, sort-by, textcolor, to-gray. MAY-tier — community-standard verbs (get/list/create/update/delete) help agents predict subcommand behavior across CLIs.
WARN	`--color` flag for explicit color control	no `--color` flag advertised. MAY-tier — `auto\|always\|never` lets agents and pipelines override the TTY-based default.
WARN	Input-accepting commands read from stdin when no file is given	input-accepting subcommand present but `--help` does not mention stdin or `-` as a path placeholder. SHOULD-tier — agents piping data into the tool expect stdin to work when no file arg is provided.
PASS	Subcommand naming follows a consistent verb/noun convention
PASS	Operations are subcommands, not verb-shaped flags

WARN	Quiet mode available	no --quiet/-q flag detected in --help output
WARN	`--verbose` flag for diagnostic escalation	no `--verbose` / `-v` flag advertised. SHOULD-tier — agents debugging failures need a way to escalate diagnostic detail.
WARN	`--limit` / `--max-results` flag for list operations	list-style subcommand present but no limit flag advertised (looked for --limit, --max-results, --max, --top, -n). SHOULD-tier — callers should be able to bound response size directly rather than scrape-then-truncate.
WARN	Cursor-based pagination flags for list traversal	list-style subcommand present but no cursor/page flag advertised (looked for --after, --before, --cursor, --page, --offset). MAY-tier — cursor pagination lets agents traverse large result sets without re-scanning earlier pages.
SKIP	`--timeout` flag for long-running operations	no long-running subcommand detected (serve/daemon/watch/tail/monitor/follow/run/start/stream); vacuous skip for the conditional SHOULD.
PASS	Help text advertises TTY-aware verbosity behavior

PASS	Skill bundle has install path (`tool skill install [<host>]`)
PASS	`skill install --all` for multi-runtime install
PASS	`skill update` / `skill upgrade` for bundle refresh

This score (71%) clears the badge floor (70%). Copy this into your README:

[![agent-native](https://anc.dev/badge/pastel.svg)](https://anc.dev/score/pastel)

Preview:

Reproduce this scorecard for pastel locally and inspect the failing audits:

anc audit --command pastel --output json

Install anc first if you don't have it. Add --output json to get the same JSON shape committed under scorecards/.