title: "CLI reference" description: "Per-command flags, exit codes, engine identifiers, and variant kebab names for every assay subcommand: fetch, ingest, generate, benchmark, report, and validate." group: "Reference" order: 5

CLI reference

All commands accept a global -v / --verbose flag for debug logging.

Command	Flags	Behavior
`assay version`	—	Print AssayPDF version.
`assay fetch`	`--force`	Download vendor assets (GOS suites, Processing Steps Test Suite) into `vendor/` with SHA-256 verification.
`assay ingest`	`--xlsx PATH`, `--output PATH`	Parse `spec/gwg-2022-spec.xlsx` into `spec/requirement-ids.json`.
`assay generate`	`--only-rule ID`, `--only-variant KEBAB`, `--seed N`	Generate the PDF/X-4 corpus into `corpus/` deterministically.
`assay benchmark`	`--engine {pdftoolbox,pitstop,lintpdf}` (required), `--profile KEBAB`	Run an engine against the corpus and write `results/<engine>-<timestamp>.{json,score.json}`. Exits 2 if the runner isn't installed.
`assay report`	`--format {md,html}`, `--output PATH`	Render scoreboard aggregating every `results/*.score.json`. Writes to stdout unless `--output` is given.
`assay validate`	`--schema-only`	Validate every corpus PDF against verapdf PDF/X-4. Exits 1 on any failure.

One per GWG 2022 variant. Listed in src/assay_pdf/generator/variants.py. Examples:

sheetcmyk-cmyk, sheetcmyk-cmyk-plus-rgb
webcmyk-cmyk, webcmyk-cmyk-plus-rgb
webcmyknews-cmyk, webcmyknews-cmyk-plus-rgb
magazine-ads-cmyk, magazine-ads-cmyk-plus-rgb
newspaper-ads-cmyk, newspaper-ads-cmyk-plus-rgb
sheetspot-cmyk, sheetspot-cmyk-plus-rgb
webspot-cmyk, webspot-cmyk-plus-rgb
packaging-offset, packaging-gravure, packaging-flexo
label-leaflet, folding-carton-corrugated-box, flexible, corrugated-display
digital-print, large-format-print

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	`assay validate` found at least one corpus PDF that fails verapdf
2	`assay benchmark` couldn't find the engine runner; or `assay report --format` got an unknown format