---
title: "Read project context from the CLI"
url: "https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/read-project-context-from-the-cli/"
---
# Read project context from the CLI

Map what an Ideate project holds and read only the parts you need, from a terminal or from a coding agent that is about to build from it. Every command prints plain text for people and, with `--json`, the underlying resource for scripts.

## Prerequisites

- `alis` installed and signed in ([Install the CLI](https://docs.alisx.com/tutorials/install-the-cli.md)).
- The right account selected: `alis accounts list`, then `alis accounts select accounts/<id>`. `find` searches the selected account only.

## Find the project

If you hold a reference such as `ideas/<id>` (from a support ticket, a link or a colleague), skip to the next section; `<id>` and `ideas/<id>` both work everywhere.

Otherwise:

```bash title="Terminal"
alis ideate list
```

lists the projects you can see, most recently updated first. `--archived` includes archived ones; `--limit` caps the count. Or describe the topic:

```bash title="Terminal"
alis ideate find "how advisers onboard new clients" --dimension current-process
```

## Map the project

```bash title="Terminal"
alis ideate context <project>
```

The map is the entry point. It prints:

- the project's title, id, state, account and **last activity**;
- a **Still settling** note when contributions are still processing or outputs are stale;
- **People**: everyone with access, and whether each has contributed;
- every artifact written for the project, with a line on what each covers;
- **Contributions**: every note, memo, recording, upload and completed interview, with who added it and a summary;
- the commands that read any one of them in full.

Nothing is printed in full here. Compare **last activity** across runs to notice new material.

## Read the parts

| To read | Command |
|---|---|
| One synthesised document | `alis ideate artifacts read <artifact> --project <project>` |
| One contribution and the map of its files | `alis ideate contribution <contribution> --project <project>` |
| One file's text, or a slice of it | the same with `--file <n>`, and `--lines <a-b>` |
| Who contributed what | `alis ideate graph <project>` |
| Only the contributions | `alis ideate contributions <project>` |

Contribution ids need `--project`. An artifact id stands alone, but pass `--project` anyway: it is checked, so an id from the wrong project fails instead of printing another project's document.

## Check before you build

Before a coding agent, or you, builds from a project, look at three things the map and the outputs tell you:

1. **Still settling.** More context may land while you build. Prefer a settled project; otherwise say what was still in flight.
2. **The gap analysis.** Conflicts, missing voices, open questions and unvalidated assumptions. A gap that blocks the build is a question for the humans, not something to invent an answer to.
3. **Who has contributed nothing.** An owner who has put nothing in is a perspective nobody has heard.

A contribution with no summary is usually still transcribing, not empty; its state says which.

## Add what you learn

When your work produces context the project should hold, add it back:

```bash title="Terminal"
alis ideate add note --project <project> --file findings.md
```

See [Add notes and contributions](https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/add-notes-and-contributions.md) and [Upload recordings and documents](https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/upload-recordings-and-documents.md).

## For coding agents

`alis docs ideate` prints the same loop as an operating manual for agents: start with the map, then open only the sources that matter.

## Related

- Reference: [`alis ideate` commands](https://docs.alisx.com/reference/projects/cli.md)
- [Hand context to a builder](https://docs.alisx.com/how-to/ideate/hand-context-to-build.md)