sift/docs/plans/p6/08-cli-docs.md

P6 task 08: sift batch, README and skill

Branch: p6 (git switch p6; git status --short must be empty, otherwise stop) Commit subject: cli: sift batch submit|status|get|cancel; README and skill

Goal

Agents reach the batch endpoint through the CLI, as they do fetch and search. There is no Hermes plugin.

Files

• Copy: _files/cmd_sift/batch_test.go → cmd/sift/batch_test.go
• Create: cmd/sift/batchcmd.go (batchMain, parseBatchArgs, one small function per verb)
• Modify: cmd/sift/main.go (one case "batch": line and the usage text), README.md, skill/SKILL.md, docs/implementer-log.md

What already exists

• cmd/sift: loadClient() (base, key string, err error) reads client.toml; searchcmd.go is the pattern for a verb (build the request with the bearer header, decode the JSON envelope, exit non-zero on a non-2xx). Never put a key on the command line.
• The endpoints (task 06):
  • POST /v1/batch {"targets":[…]} → 202 {"success","job_id","status","targets","reused"};
  • GET /v1/batch/{id} (summary; ?results=1 inlines results);
  • GET /v1/batch/{id}/{idx} (one result);
  • DELETE /v1/batch/{id}.

Interfaces added here

// parseBatchArgs validates a `sift batch` command line (without "batch").
func parseBatchArgs(args []string) (verb string, rest []string, err error)

sift batch submit <targets.json|->     # prints {"job_id", "status", "reused"}
sift batch status [--results] <job_id> # prints the status body (a summary unless --results)
sift batch get <job_id> <idx>          # prints one target's result, as `sift fetch --json` would
sift batch cancel <job_id>             # prints {"success", "status"}

Rules

1. parseBatchArgs accepts exactly the forms above:
   • submit with one argument (- means stdin);
   • status with a job id, optionally preceded by --results;
   • get with a job id and an idx that is a non-negative integer;
   • cancel with a job id. Anything else (no verb, a missing or extra argument, an unknown verb, a bad idx) is an error. rest is the arguments after the verb, unchanged.
2. submit reads the file and checks it locally before calling the server: it must be a JSON object with a non-empty targets array. It may also be a bare array of targets or of URL strings; wrap either into {"targets": […]}, turning each string into {"url": s}.
3. Every verb prints the server's JSON on stdout, and on a non-2xx prints the error envelope to stderr and exits with exitFor(status, msg), as fetch does.
4. README.md, a short "Batch" section:
   • the four endpoints;
   • the model: serial per job, one worker by default, round-robin across jobs;
   • the caps (32 targets, 1 live job per caller, 8 in all) and the 256 KiB body;
   • idempotency: the same list from the same caller returns the same job while it is live or has results;
   • the lease/TTL and restart semantics;
   • the summary-vs-results reads;
   • restricted-caller redaction;
   • the sift_batch_* metrics.
5. skill/SKILL.md, a short section:
   • for several URLs you will read later, sift batch submit them once, rather than a loop of sift fetch;
   • poll with sift batch status, and read each result with sift batch get <job> <idx>;
   • don't use --results unless you need every result at once (it can be large);
   • a batch is slow on purpose: for one URL you need now, use sift fetch.

Steps

• 1. git switch p6; copy the given test. 2. See it fail.
• 3. batchcmd.go. 4. main.go. 5. README and skill.
• 6. gofmt -w; go test -race -count=3 ./cmd/sift/ → ok. 7. make gate.
• 8. Row p6/08-cli-docs; commit.

git add cmd/sift README.md skill/SKILL.md docs/implementer-log.md
git commit -F .state/commit-msg.txt

Done when

• The given test and every existing cmd test pass under -race -count=3; make gate ok; the given file is byte-identical.