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coder/docs/reference/cli/external-workspaces/agent-instructions.md
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Nick Vigilante d40e24cf7d docs: nest the CLI reference by subcommand (#29956)
## Summary

Nests the CLI reference by subcommand so the Command Line sidebar
collapses from 156 flat entries to 49 top-level verbs.
Each page's URL follows the invocation, its page title is the full
command as inline code, and its sidebar label is only its own verb as
inline code.

| | Before | After |
| --- | --- | --- |
| File | `docs/reference/cli/oauth2-provider_dcr_disable.md` |
`docs/reference/cli/oauth2-provider/dcr/disable.md` |
| URL | `/reference/cli/oauth2-provider_dcr_disable` |
`/reference/cli/oauth2-provider/dcr/disable` |
| Page title (front matter) | `oauth2-provider dcr disable` | `` `coder
oauth2-provider dcr disable` `` |
| Sidebar label (manifest) | `oauth2-provider dcr disable` | ``
`disable` `` |

Resolves DOCS-140 (coder/coder half). Also fixes the Makefile part of
DOCS-1073 / DOCS-912, which this change depends on.

## Changes

- `scripts/clidocgen`: pages nest by command path. A command with
visible subcommands becomes its directory's `index.md`, so
`oauth2-provider/index.md` and `oauth2-provider/dcr/index.md` sit above
`oauth2-provider/dcr/disable.md`. Subcommand table links are relative to
the parent page.
- `scripts/clidocgen`: the manifest "Command Line" section is built from
the command tree (nested, sorted by name, hidden commands skipped)
instead of a flat list. The redundant `coder` child that pointed back at
`reference/cli/index.md` is gone.
- `Makefile`: the CLI rule now replaces `docs/reference/cli/` wholesale,
so stale pages get removed. The manifest rule now runs `clidocgen
-manifest-only` on top of the API staging manifest, so the CLI nav is
generated instead of edited by hand. As a result, the nine pages that
had no nav entry (`ai-gateway*`, `secret enable/disable`, `server
fix-oidc-links`) now have one.
- `scripts/configdocgen` and 48 prose pages: links point at the new
paths (for example `reference/cli/server.md` is now
`reference/cli/server/index.md`).

## How to review/QA this PR

- `docs/reference/cli/**/*` (approximately 190 pages): Each of these
pages are generated automatically. Some pages appear deleted, and some
pages appear new. Every deleted page corresponds to a new page somewhere
else, so no information is being deleted. The docs in this section
should adhere to the following, so a test in the build preview for each
of these items should be satisfactory:
- [ ] Each subcommand of a command gets nested as a child instead of
being displayed as a flat list.
  - [ ] Each parent command is stored in an `index.md` file.
- [ ] The title of each page inside the page should now feature the full
`coder XYZ` command.
- [ ] The title of each page inside the page should now be formatted as
inline code.
- [ ] The title of each page in the sidebar should be the most granular
subcommand of the whole command string (if the page's title is `coder
ai-gateway keys create`, the sidebar label is `create`).
- [ ] The title of each page in the sidebar should now be formatted as
inline code.
  - [ ] The page slug for each page is now the most granular subcommand.
  - [ ] All links now point to the correct page.
- `docs/manifest.json`: The changes here reflect the updated structure
of the `docs/reference/cli` section.
- `docs/**/*.md` outside of `docs/reference/cli/**/*` (approximately 50
pages): The extent of the changes in these pages are just updating the
paths to point to the new page locations.
- [ ] The links on the page all point to the correct new path in
`docs/reference/cli`.
- `scripts/clidocgen` (4 files): This is the Go code responsible for
generating everything inside of `docs/reference/cli/**/*`. A typical
code review here should be satisfactory.
- `scripts/configdocgen` (2 files): these two files just have updates to
the raw `.md` path used by `docs/admin/setup/configuration-reference.md`
and updates the tests to reflect that.
- `Makefile`: This updates the `make` targets for generating the CLI
docs to fit the new structure.

## Merge ordering

Without the renderer PRs deployed, both docs sites show literal
backticks in titles and sidebar labels. Without the redirects, the old
flat URLs return 404.

1. Deploy before merging this PR: coder/docs-engine#176 (beta-docs
renders these titles as inline code) and coder/coder.com#1111 (classic
docs renders them as inline code). Both are safe to ship first, because
titles without backticks render as before.
2. Merge this PR.
3. Merge coder/coder.com#1112 (redirects from the old flat URLs) only
once this content reaches the mainline release branch that serves
unversioned `/docs`.

## Testing

- `go test ./scripts/clidocgen/ ./scripts/configdocgen/
./scripts/docshtmlcheck/`: pass. New tests cover page paths, subcommand
links, the nested manifest, and front matter quoting.
- `make docs/reference/cli/index.md docs/manifest.json
docs/admin/setup/configuration-reference.md`, then a forced rerun: the
second run produced no diff.
- Checked the manifest: all 164 CLI entries resolve to a file, no page
is missing a nav entry, and everything outside "Command Line" is
byte-identical.
- Relative `.md` links across `docs/`: 0 broken, same as `main`.
- `make pre-commit` and `make pre-push`: pass. On earlier pre-push
attempts, different unrelated vitest files timed out under host load.
Those files pass when run alone, and the final push passed with
`PARALLEL_JOBS=1`.

<details>
<summary>Implementation plan and decision log</summary>

**Goal (from DOCS-140 and the requester):** URLs follow the command
hierarchy. Pages are titled with the full command, and sidebar entries
with the last verb only. Both are formatted as inline code.

**Contract with the renderers:** a title wrapped entirely in one pair of
backticks (``^`[^`]+`$``) renders as inline code. Plain-text consumers
(`<title>`, meta, search, llms corpus) strip the backticks. Page title
comes from front matter `title`, and the sidebar label from the manifest
node `title`.

**Decisions**

- A parent command is `dir/index.md` rather than a sibling `dir.md`. The
root CLI page is already `index.md`, and both docs-engine and the legacy
coder.com renderer map `x/index.md` to `/x`.
- The manifest is built from the command tree, not from the written
files, so ordering is deterministic and the nesting matches the pages
exactly.
- The manifest discard bug (DOCS-1073 item 1) is fixed here, because
without that fix the generated nested manifest would never reach the
tree. DOCS-1073 items 2 through 4 (a prose fix and a hidden-command
policy) are out of scope.
- `-manifest-only` keeps the existing parallel `make gen` layout: the
API rule still owns `_gen/manifest-staging.json`, and CLI regeneration
doesn't retrigger swag.
- The renderer and redirect work lives in the companion PRs in
coder/docs-engine and coder/coder.com. It is linked above and not
duplicated here.

</details>

---

> [!NOTE]
> Generated by Coder Agents on behalf of @nickvigilante.
2026-09-28 15:44:10 -04:00

552 B

title, description
title description
`coder external-workspaces agent-instructions` Get the instructions for an external agent

Get the instructions for an external agent

Usage

coder external-workspaces agent-instructions [flags] [user/]workspace[.agent]

Options

-o, --output

Type text|json
Default text

Output format.