Command-line interface

The CLI scaffolds projects, manages chart dependencies, validates configuration, and generates build artifacts from build.yml metadata.

Commands

Command	What it does
`clean`	WIP
`diff`	WIP
`explain`	WIP
`generate`	Generates `.buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl` from metadata/charts
`init`	Scaffolds `build.yml` and `charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml`
`package`	WIP
`pull`	Pulls a single OCI chart by tag or digest
`summary`	Creates a summary from latest Docker Buildx history
`update`	Refreshes `charts/buildcharts/Chart.lock` from `Chart.yaml`
`validate`	WIP
`version`	Prints tool and runtime version info

`buildcharts generate`

Generates build pipeline using metadata. Outputs a Docker bake file .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl. It also validates Chart.yaml digests by comparing them to chart tags, runs plugins, and cleans the .buildcharts folder to keep a clean state.

buildcharts generate [--use-inline-dockerfiles] [--ignore-lock] [--verbose]

option

Embed pulled Dockerfiles directly in .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl

option

Skip Chart.lock validation even if the file exists

option

Enable extra plugin and generator logging by setting BUILDSCHARTS_VERBOSE=1

environment

Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth

Example

# buildcharts generate
Pulling charts...
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-test:0.0.1 (581 bytes)
Digest: sha256:e2fc7641da11faa2f90d2a4991fa8c37e97a0825988f1d4352758da4bc5dd587
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-docker:0.0.2 (583 bytes)
Digest: sha256:d3a3957520bff850383d6d79b692888595f437c872c2f860d75544751813ddde
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build:0.0.1 (582 bytes)
Digest: sha256:aca33142a81a9e79d584de7882a740240163e27411ad0f4ebe0336ed2de0cb4e
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-nuget:0.0.1 (582 bytes)
Digest: sha256:6b6b99dd94c8b9f388890770fc3f1249c07561c9347d9eb98802c3bf44fbf47a

✅ Generated files:
  • .buildcharts/docker-bake.hcl

`buildcharts init`

Scaffolds the working directory and automatically creates:

build.yml
charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml

buildcharts init

Example

# buildcharts init
buildcharts initialized

✅ Generated files:
  • build.yml
  • charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml

✅ Targets:
  • buildcharts.sln → build
  • src/BuildCharts.Tool/BuildCharts.Tool.csproj → nuget

✅ Detected GitHub from .git folder:
  • .github/workflows/buildcharts.yml

👉 Next steps:
  • Edit `build.yml` to customize build pipeline
  • Run `buildcharts generate` to generate build pipeline
  • Run `docker buildx bake` to run build pipeline

💡 Tips:
  • Run `buildcharts update` to auto-sync chart dependencies
  • Customize default base images and tags in `charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml`

`buildcharts pull`

Pulls a single OCI chart by tag or digest.

buildcharts pull <reference> [--untar] [--untardir <DIR>] [--output <OUTPUT>]

argument

required

OCI reference in the form registry/repo:tag or registry/repo@sha256:...

option

Extract the downloaded chart into the current directory

option

Extraction directory when --untar is set

option

Directory where the downloaded chart blob is stored

environment

Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth

Example

# buildcharts pull oci://docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build:0.0.1                    
Pulled: docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build:0.0.1 (1123 bytes)
Digest: sha256:4da50de6250055a119d51c620e2ed825529d281b2d27a9e2bb1f17b912d1a11c

# buildcharts pull oci://registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build@sha256:4da50de6250055a119d51c620e2ed825529d281b2d27a9e2bb1f17b912d1a11c
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build@sha256:4da50de6250055a119d51c620e2ed825529d281b2d27a9e2bb1f17b912d1a11c (1123 bytes)
Digest: sha256:4da50de6250055a119d51c620e2ed825529d281b2d27a9e2bb1f17b912d1a11c

`buildcharts summary`

Exports summary artifacts from the latest Docker Buildx history.

buildcharts summary

environment

When set, summary appends the generated Markdown summary to this file (GitHub Actions).

environment

When set, summary also writes Azure DevOps-oriented outputs (artifacts and job summary metadata).

Example

# buildcharts summary
Generating summary for build: <id> (<job>)

✅ Generated files:
  • .buildcharts/output/SUMMARY.md
  • .buildcharts/output/buildcharts.dockerbuild

`buildcharts update`

Resolves chart dependency digests from charts/buildcharts/Chart.yaml and refreshes the lock file.

buildcharts update

environment

Override the Docker config directory used for registry auth

Example

# buildcharts update
Updating 4 dependencies...
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-build:0.0.1 (1111 bytes) (cached)
Digest: sha256:ca7e6c16d053721518ebf6186c5c0663ed870c14c2eda6b0f62588b49b2a1ab6 (cached)
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-test:0.0.1 (900 bytes) (cached)
Digest: sha256:ab2b1d00fbc03f0300d2b10a78ed60ee8615e6bcafc60222083e77ce572583a9 (cached)
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-nuget:0.0.1 (1853 bytes) (cached)
Digest: sha256:bab5a1e71c486731e152c55e2aa54eb045921f865441ac948ef8a572346ae21e (cached)
Pulled: registry-1.docker.io/buildcharts/dotnet-docker:0.0.2 (752 bytes) (cached)
Digest: sha256:978e3277b9618f6a0a56978b96d0b3fd23246cd77b972b66820c53e145c42de4 (cached)

✅ Generated files:
  • charts/buildcharts/Chart.lock

`buildcharts version`

buildcharts version
buildcharts --version

buildcharts version prints tool and runtime version details. buildcharts --version prints the short root-command version output. Example

# buildcharts --version
buildcharts v1.0.0, build a882a7c19eb72f60a9cf1da3a4aee00691bdc4ba

# buildcharts version
buildcharts
 version:       1.0.0+a882a7c19eb72f60a9cf1da3a4aee00691bdc4ba
 built:         2026-01-09T01:55:30Z
 os/arch:       Microsoft Windows 10.0.26200/x64
 cpu/mem:       32 cores/127.65 GB
 .NET version:  10.0.1

Overview

Core features

Charts

Quickstart

Plugins

Troubleshooting

Command-line interface

Commands

`buildcharts generate`

`buildcharts init`

`buildcharts pull`

`buildcharts summary`

`buildcharts update`

`buildcharts version`

​Commands

​buildcharts generate

​buildcharts init

​buildcharts pull

​buildcharts summary

​buildcharts update

​buildcharts version

Commands

`buildcharts generate`

`buildcharts init`

`buildcharts pull`

`buildcharts summary`

`buildcharts update`

`buildcharts version`