Context CLI

Lint any URL for LLM readiness. Get a 0-100 score for token efficiency, RAG readiness, agent compatibility, and LLM extraction quality.

Table of Contents

• What is Context CLI?
• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• CLI Usage
• MCP Integration
• Context Compiler (Generate)
• Serve Modes
• Citation Radar
• Share-of-Recommendation Benchmark
• GitHub Action
• Score Breakdown
• AI Bots Checked
• Development
• License

What is Context CLI?

Context CLI is an LLM Readiness Linter that checks how well a URL is structured for AI consumption. As LLM-powered search engines, RAG pipelines, and AI agents become primary consumers of web content, your pages need to be optimized for token efficiency, structured data extraction, agent interoperability, and machine-readable formatting.

Context CLI analyzes your content across five pillars (V3 scoring) and returns a structured score from 0 to 100.

Features

• Robots.txt AI bot access -- checks 13 AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, DeepSeek-AI, Grok, and more)
• llms.txt & llms-full.txt -- detects both standard and extended LLM instruction files
• Schema.org JSON-LD -- extracts and evaluates structured data with high-value type weighting (Product, Article, FAQ, HowTo)
• Content density -- measures useful content vs. boilerplate with readability scoring, heading structure analysis, and answer-first detection
• Agent Readiness (V3) -- 20-point pillar checking AGENTS.md, Accept: text/markdown, MCP endpoints, semantic HTML, x402 payment signaling, and NLWeb support
• Markdown-for-Agents engine -- convert any URL to clean, token-efficient markdown; open-source alternative to Cloudflare's Markdown for Agents
• Serve modes -- reverse proxy, ASGI middleware, and WSGI middleware that serve markdown to agents via Accept: text/markdown
• Batch mode -- lint multiple URLs from a file with --file and configurable --concurrency
• Custom bot list -- override default bots with --bots for targeted checks
• Verbose output -- detailed per-pillar breakdown with scoring explanations and recommendations
• Rich CLI output -- formatted tables and scores via Rich
• JSON / CSV / Markdown output -- machine-readable results for pipelines
• MCP server -- expose the linter as a tool for AI agents via FastMCP (8 tools including agent readiness, markdown conversion, and AGENTS.md generation)
• Context Compiler -- LLM-powered llms.txt, schema.jsonld, and AGENTS.md generation, with batch mode for multiple URLs
• Web server config generation -- generate nginx, Apache, and Caddy configs for Accept: text/markdown routing
• x402 payment config generation -- generate payment signaling configuration for monetizing agent access
• CI/CD integration -- --fail-under threshold, --fail-on-blocked-bots, per-pillar thresholds, baseline regression detection, GitHub Step Summary
• GitHub Action -- composite action for CI pipelines with baseline support
• Citation Radar -- query AI models to see what they cite and recommend, with brand tracking and domain classification
• Share-of-Recommendation Benchmark -- track how often AI models mention and recommend your brand vs competitors, with LLM-as-judge analysis

Installation

pip install context-linter

Context CLI uses a headless browser for content extraction. After installing, run:

crawl4ai-setup

Development install

git clone https://github.com/hanselhansel/context-cli.git
cd context-cli
pip install -e ".[dev]"
crawl4ai-setup

Docker

Build and run Context CLI in a container with all dependencies pre-installed:

docker build -t context-cli .

Lint a URL:

docker run --rm context-cli lint example.com

Pass additional flags as normal:

docker run --rm context-cli lint example.com --single --json

Quick Start

context-cli lint example.com

This runs a full lint and prints a Rich-formatted report with your LLM readiness score.

CLI Usage

Single Page Lint

Lint only the specified URL (skip multi-page discovery):

context-cli lint example.com --single

Multi-Page Site Lint (default)

Discover pages via sitemap/spider and lint up to 10 pages:

context-cli lint example.com

Limit Pages

context-cli lint example.com --max-pages 5

JSON Output

Get structured JSON for CI pipelines, dashboards, or scripting:

context-cli lint example.com --json

CSV / Markdown Output

context-cli lint example.com --format csv
context-cli lint example.com --format markdown

Verbose Mode

Show detailed per-pillar breakdown with scoring explanations:

context-cli lint example.com --single --verbose

Timeout

Set the HTTP timeout (default: 15 seconds):

context-cli lint example.com --timeout 30

Custom Bot List

Override the default 13 bots with a custom list:

context-cli lint example.com --bots "GPTBot,ClaudeBot,PerplexityBot"

Batch Mode

Lint multiple URLs from a file (one URL per line, .txt or .csv):

context-cli lint --file urls.txt
context-cli lint --file urls.txt --concurrency 5
context-cli lint --file urls.txt --format csv

CI Mode

Fail the build if the score is below a threshold:

context-cli lint example.com --fail-under 60

Fail if any AI bot is blocked:

context-cli lint example.com --fail-on-blocked-bots

Per-Pillar Thresholds

Gate CI on individual pillar scores:

context-cli lint example.com --robots-min 20 --content-min 30 --overall-min 60

Available: --robots-min, --schema-min, --content-min, --llms-min, --overall-min.

Baseline Regression Detection

Save a baseline and detect score regressions in future lints:

# Save current scores as baseline
context-cli lint example.com --single --save-baseline .context-baseline.json

# Compare against baseline (exit 1 if any pillar drops > 5 points)
context-cli lint example.com --single --baseline .context-baseline.json

# Custom regression threshold
context-cli lint example.com --single --baseline .context-baseline.json --regression-threshold 10

Exit codes: 0 = pass, 1 = score below threshold or regression detected, 2 = bots blocked.

When running in GitHub Actions, a markdown summary is automatically written to $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY.

Quiet Mode

Suppress output, exit code 0 if score >= 50, 1 otherwise:

context-cli lint example.com --quiet

Use --fail-under with --quiet to override the default threshold:

context-cli lint example.com --quiet --fail-under 70

Markdown Conversion

Convert any URL to clean, token-efficient markdown optimized for LLM consumption:

context-cli markdown https://example.com

Show token reduction statistics (raw HTML tokens vs. clean markdown tokens):

context-cli markdown https://example.com --stats

Generate a static markdown site (one .md file per discovered page):

context-cli markdown https://example.com --static -o ./output/

The markdown engine uses a three-stage pipeline (Sanitize, Extract, Convert) to strip boilerplate, navigation, ads, and scripts, producing clean markdown that typically achieves 70%+ token reduction. See docs/markdown-engine.md for details.

Reverse Proxy Server

Serve markdown to AI agents automatically via Accept: text/markdown content negotiation:

context-cli serve --upstream https://example.com --port 8080

When an AI agent sends a request with Accept: text/markdown, the proxy fetches the upstream HTML, converts it through the markdown engine, and returns clean markdown. Regular browser requests receive the original HTML unchanged.

V3 Scoring

Use the V3 scoring model with the Agent Readiness pillar:

context-cli lint https://example.com --scoring v3

V3 adds a 20-point Agent Readiness pillar and rebalances the existing pillars. See docs/scoring-v3.md for the full methodology.

Start MCP server

context-cli mcp

Launches a FastMCP stdio server exposing the linter as a tool for AI agents.

MCP Integration

To use Context CLI as a tool in Claude Desktop, add this to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context-cli": {
      "command": "context-cli",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Once configured, Claude can call the audit_url tool directly to check any URL's LLM readiness.

New MCP Tools (v3.0)

In addition to the existing tools (audit, generate, compare, history, recommend), v3.0 adds:

• agent_readiness_audit -- run agent readiness checks (AGENTS.md, Accept: text/markdown, MCP endpoints, semantic HTML, x402, NLWeb) against a URL
• convert_to_markdown -- convert any URL's HTML to clean, token-efficient markdown
• generate_agents_md -- generate an AGENTS.md file for a given URL based on its content and structure

See docs/mcp-integration.md for full tool documentation.

Context Compiler (Generate)

Generate llms.txt and schema.jsonld files from any URL using LLM analysis:

pip install context-linter[generate]
context-cli generate example.com

This crawls the URL, sends the content to an LLM, and writes optimized files to ./context-output/.

Batch Generate

Generate assets for multiple URLs from a file:

context-cli generate-batch urls.txt
context-cli generate-batch urls.txt --concurrency 5 --profile ecommerce
context-cli generate-batch urls.txt --json

Each URL's output goes to a subdirectory under --output-dir.

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)

The generate command auto-detects your LLM provider from environment variables:

Override with --model:

context-cli generate example.com --model gpt-4o

Industry Profiles

Tailor the output with --profile:

context-cli generate example.com --profile saas
context-cli generate example.com --profile ecommerce

Available: generic, cpg, saas, ecommerce, blog.

AGENTS.md Generation

Generate an AGENTS.md file that tells AI agents how to interact with your site:

context-cli generate example.com --agents-md

Web Server Config Generation

Generate web server configuration snippets for routing Accept: text/markdown requests:

context-cli generate-config nginx
context-cli generate-config apache
context-cli generate-config caddy

Each generates a config snippet that detects Accept: text/markdown in incoming requests and routes them to the Context CLI markdown endpoint or a local markdown-serving backend.

x402 Payment Config Generation

Generate x402 payment signaling configuration for monetizing AI agent access:

context-cli generate-x402

Serve Modes

Context CLI provides three ways to serve markdown to AI agents that send Accept: text/markdown requests.

Reverse Proxy

Run a standalone reverse proxy that sits in front of your existing site:

context-cli serve --upstream https://example.com --port 8080

Requests with Accept: text/markdown receive converted markdown. All other requests are proxied to the upstream unchanged.

ASGI Middleware (FastAPI / Starlette)

Add markdown serving to any ASGI application:

from context_cli.middleware import MarkdownASGIMiddleware

app = FastAPI()
app = MarkdownASGIMiddleware(app)

WSGI Middleware (Django / Flask)

Add markdown serving to any WSGI application:

from context_cli.middleware import MarkdownWSGIMiddleware

app = MarkdownWSGIMiddleware(app)

Both middleware variants intercept requests with Accept: text/markdown, convert the response HTML through the markdown engine, and return clean markdown with Content-Type: text/markdown.

Citation Radar

Query AI models to see what they cite and recommend for any search prompt:

pip install context-linter[generate]
context-cli radar "best project management tools" --brand Asana --brand Monday --model gpt-4o-mini

Options:

• --brand/-b: Brand name to track (repeatable)
• --model/-m: LLM model to query (repeatable, default: gpt-4o-mini)
• --runs/-r: Runs per model for statistical significance
• --json: Output as JSON

Share-of-Recommendation Benchmark

Track how AI models mention and recommend your brand across multiple prompts:

pip install context-linter[generate]
context-cli benchmark prompts.txt -b "YourBrand" -c "Competitor1" -c "Competitor2"

Options:

• prompts.txt: CSV (with prompt,category,intent columns) or plain text (one prompt per line)
• --brand/-b: Target brand to track (required)
• --competitor/-c: Competitor brand (repeatable)
• --model/-m: LLM model to query (repeatable, default: gpt-4o-mini)
• --runs/-r: Runs per model per prompt (default: 3)
• --yes/-y: Skip cost confirmation prompt
• --json: Output as JSON

GitHub Action

Use Context CLI in your CI pipeline:

- name: Run Context Lint
  uses: hanselhansel/context-cli@main
  with:
    url: 'https://your-site.com'
    fail-under: '60'

With baseline regression detection:

- name: Run Context Lint
  uses: hanselhansel/context-cli@main
  with:
    url: 'https://your-site.com'
    baseline-file: '.context-baseline.json'
    save-baseline: '.context-baseline.json'
    regression-threshold: '5'

The action sets up Python, installs context-cli, and runs the lint. Outputs score and report-json for downstream steps. See docs/ci-integration.md for full documentation.

Score Breakdown

Context CLI supports two scoring models. V2 (default) uses four pillars; V3 adds a fifth pillar for agent readiness.

V2 Scoring (default)

V3 Scoring (--scoring v3)

The Agent Readiness pillar checks six sub-signals:

See docs/scoring-v3.md for the full V3 methodology.

Scoring rationale

The V2 weights reflect how AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) actually consume web content:

• Content density (40 pts) is weighted highest because it's what LLMs extract and cite when answering questions. Rich, well-structured content with headings and lists gives AI better material to work with.
• Robots.txt (25 pts) is the gatekeeper -- if a bot is blocked, it literally cannot crawl. It's critical but largely binary (either you're blocking or you're not).
• Schema.org (25 pts) provides structured "cheat sheets" that help AI understand entities. High-value types (Product, Article, FAQ, HowTo, Recipe) receive bonus weighting. Valuable but not required for citation.
• llms.txt (10 pts) is an emerging standard. Both /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt are checked. No major AI search engine heavily weights it yet, but it signals forward-thinking AI readiness.

V3 rebalances these weights to accommodate the new Agent Readiness pillar, reflecting the growing importance of direct agent interaction alongside traditional crawl-and-index patterns.

AI Bots Checked

Context CLI checks access rules for 13 AI crawlers:

• GPTBot
• ChatGPT-User
• Google-Extended
• ClaudeBot
• PerplexityBot
• Amazonbot
• OAI-SearchBot
• DeepSeek-AI
• Grok
• Meta-ExternalAgent
• cohere-ai
• AI2Bot
• ByteSpider

Development

# Install with dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint
ruff check src/ tests/

Comparison with Similar Tools

Troubleshooting

crawl4ai-setup fails or hangs

crawl4ai requires Playwright browsers. If setup fails, install them manually:

playwright install chromium

On CI environments, you may also need system dependencies:

playwright install-deps chromium

SSL certificate errors

If you see SSL errors when linting HTTPS URLs, ensure your system certificates are up to date:

pip install --upgrade certifi

On macOS, you may need to run the certificate install script bundled with Python:

/Applications/Python\ 3.x/Install\ Certificates.command

Empty results or zero score

If the linter returns an empty report or a score of 0, the page may be JavaScript-rendered and the headless browser failed to load it. Try increasing the timeout:

context-cli lint example.com --timeout 60

Also verify that crawl4ai-setup completed successfully and that Playwright browsers are installed.

ModuleNotFoundError for optional dependencies

Some features require optional extras. Install them as needed:

# For generate, radar, and benchmark commands
pip install context-linter[generate]

# For development
pip install context-linter[dev]

FAQ

How is Context CLI different from Google Lighthouse?

Lighthouse measures web performance, accessibility, and SEO for human visitors. Context CLI measures how well your content is structured for LLM consumption -- token efficiency, AI bot access, structured data extraction, and agent readiness. They are complementary tools solving different problems.

Does Context CLI support JavaScript-rendered pages?

Yes. Context CLI uses a headless browser (via crawl4ai and Playwright) to render pages, so JavaScript-rendered content is fully supported. Single-page applications, React sites, and dynamically loaded content are all handled.

Can I use Context CLI in CI/CD pipelines?

Yes. Use --fail-under to set a minimum score threshold, --fail-on-blocked-bots to fail if AI crawlers are blocked, and per-pillar thresholds like --robots-min and --content-min. Baseline regression detection is also available with --save-baseline and --baseline. See docs/ci-integration.md for full details and a ready-to-use GitHub Action.

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

Context CLI is built on the shoulders of excellent open-source projects:

• crawl4ai -- async web crawling and content extraction
• Rich -- beautiful terminal output and formatting
• FastMCP -- Model Context Protocol server framework
• Ruff -- fast Python linter and formatter