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CLI Reference

Reference for every mora subcommand and flag.

Synopsis

mora <command> [options] [path]

Commands:

Global options

Accepted by every command:

--no-color : Disable colored terminal output. Useful in CI or when piping to a file.

-v : Verbose output.

mora check

Type-checks .mora files without loading ESP data. Runs in milliseconds — the right command for editor save-hooks and CI pre-flight.

mora check my_rules.mora
mora check .              # scan the current directory for .mora files

Runs parsing, name resolution, and type checking. Skips all plugin I/O, so it cannot validate @EditorID references (those require a load order). Use mora compile or mora inspect for full validation.

mora compile

The primary command. Runs the full pipeline: parse, resolve, type check, phase-classify, evaluate static rules against your ESP data, lower dynamic rules to operator-DAG bytecode, and write mora_patches.bin.

mora compile my_rules.mora
mora compile my_rules.mora --data-dir "/path/to/Skyrim/Data"
mora compile my_rules.mora --output out/

With a detected Skyrim install (Steam on Linux/Windows, Proton prefix, or portable GOG), mora compile runs with zero flags: data-dir, plugins.txt, and the output directory all resolve automatically, and mora_patches.bin lands directly in the game's Data/SKSE/Plugins/ where the runtime DLL picks it up on next launch.

Options

--data-dir DIR : Path to the Skyrim Data/ directory. Mora loads .esm/.esp/.esl files from this location to resolve @EditorID references and evaluate static rules. If omitted, Mora tries to auto-detect a Steam install.

--output DIR : Directory for mora_patches.bin. Defaults to <Data>/SKSE/Plugins/ when a Skyrim install is detected (same install as --data-dir), otherwise falls back to MoraCache/ relative to the source file.

--plugins-txt PATH : Path to Plugins.txt, the authoritative load-order file. Auto-detected alongside Data/, in the Proton/GOG AppData prefix, or at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition\Plugins.txt on Windows.

Example output

  Mora v0.1.0

  [OK] Parsing 1 files
  [OK] Resolving 1 rules
  [OK] Type checking 1 rules
  [OK] 1 static, 0 dynamic
  [OK] 15 plugins, 3 relations -> 59522 facts
  [OK] Evaluating (.mora rules) done
  [OK] 200 patches -> mora_patches.bin (4.1 KB)
  [OK] Wrote MoraCache/mora_patches.bin

Output line meanings:

N static, N dynamic : Rule classification. Static rules are fully evaluated now; dynamic rules are lowered to DAG bytecode for the runtime.

N plugins, N relations -> N facts : ESP loader summary. Relations are loaded lazily — only the ones your rules touch.

N patches -> mora_patches.bin : Static rules matched this many facts; each one becomes a 16-byte patch entry.

mora inspect

Shows the patch set that mora compile would produce, without writing any output file. Use for debugging, for diffing rule changes, and for finding conflicts.

mora inspect my_rules.mora
mora inspect my_rules.mora --conflicts

Options

--conflicts : Report conflicts only (cases where two rules write the same field on the same FormID with different values or operations).

Example output

  mora inspect — 200 patches (from 1 files)

  0x0001397E:
    damage: set 20

  0x00013980:
    damage: set 20
  ...

With --conflicts:

  0 conflict(s)

mora info

Project status overview: how many .mora files are in scope, how many rules they define, and — if a --data-dir is given — what the current load order looks like and how many facts it produces.

mora info
mora info --data-dir "/path/to/Skyrim/Data"

Options

--data-dir DIR : Path to the Skyrim Data/ directory. With this set, info also reports plugin count and total extracted fact count.

Example output

  Mora v0.1.0

  Mora rules:    11 across 3 files
  Cache status:  MoraRuntime.dll (16.5 KB)
  Data dir:      /path/to/Skyrim/Data
  Plugins found: 47
  Facts loaded:  183291

mora docs

Prints an auto-generated relation catalog to stdout, derived from the compiled-in constexpr relation table. Useful as a quick CLI reference for what the current binary knows about.

mora docs | less

No options.

The hand-curated on-disk docs/src/relations.md is regenerated from data/relations/**/*.yaml by tools/gen_docs.py and committed to the repo — don't overwrite it with mora docs.

Exit codes

  • 0 — success
  • 1 — parse / type / compile error, or invalid CLI usage

Diagnostic output goes to stderr for errors and stdout for progress and info messages.