Tonto CLI · Tonto

The CLI package is named tonto-cli and exposes the tonto-cli command.

npm install -g tonto-cli
tonto-cli help

Commands

Command	Purpose
`tonto-cli init`	Create a new Tonto project interactively.
`tonto-cli generate <dir>`	Generate OntoUML JSON from a Tonto project directory.
`tonto-cli generateSingle <file>`	Generate JSON from one source file.
`tonto-cli import <file>`	Generate Tonto source from an OntoUML JSON file.
`tonto-cli importSingle <file>`	Generate Tonto source from one JSON file.
`tonto-cli validate <dir>`	Run local project validation.
`tonto-cli transform <dir>`	Transform a Tonto project to gUFO through OntoUML services.
`tonto-cli plantuml <dir>`	Generate PlantUML source from a Tonto project.
`tonto-cli add-skill <dir>`	Add the Tonto ontology skill to an editor or agent project.

Initialize a project

tonto-cli init

The initializer prompts for project metadata, guidance target, and template. It can create:

A blank project.
A Cat and Dog example project.
Guidance files for Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Claude Code, Google/Gemini tools, or all supported targets.

Generate OntoUML JSON

tonto-cli generate .
tonto-cli generate . --destination out-json

Generation reads the project manifest, loads .tonto files, validates syntax and model diagnostics, and writes JSON to the manifest outFolder unless --destination is provided.

For single-file generation:

tonto-cli generateSingle src/main.tonto

Import OntoUML JSON

tonto-cli import model.json
tonto-cli import model.json --destination imported-project

Import validates the source JSON with ontouml-js serialization utilities and materializes Tonto source files.

Validate

tonto-cli validate .

By default, validation runs local language-server diagnostics.

Add API validation:

tonto-cli validate . --with-api

API validation sends the generated model through the OntoUML validation flow.

Transform to gUFO

tonto-cli transform .

The transform command parses the project and requests a gUFO Turtle transformation from OntoUML services.

Generate PlantUML

tonto-cli plantuml .
tonto-cli plantuml . --destination diagrams
tonto-cli plantuml . --per-package
tonto-cli plantuml . --no-external-references
tonto-cli plantuml . --layout orthogonal

Supported layout values:

default
top-to-bottom
left-to-right
polyline
orthogonal
smetana
elk

Install the Tonto skill

tonto-cli add-skill .
tonto-cli add-skill . --target codex
tonto-cli add-skill . --target all

Supported targets:

cursor
vscode
codex
claude
google
all

The skill gives AI coding tools domain-specific instructions for understanding, extending, documenting, and reviewing Tonto ontology projects.

Troubleshooting

If generation says no source files were found, check that your project folder contains .tonto files outside the configured output folder.
If validation fails before generation, fix parser or language-server diagnostics first.
If API validation or gUFO transformation fails, retry local validation to separate model errors from service/network issues.