cli

Lawrence CLI – Detect, Analyze, and Auto-Instrument OpenTelemetry Code

Lawrence CLI helps you quickly identify which programming languages and OpenTelemetry libraries a project uses, detect common misconfigurations, and produce actionable findings in text or JSON. It can then generate instrumentation code using built-in templates or your preferred coding agent (GitHub Copilot CLI, Gemini, Claude, OpenAI). Run in dry-run mode to preview changes or output ready-to-use scaffolding for immediate integration.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Development Status ⚠️

🚧 This project is currently in active development and should NOT be used on production codebases. 🚧

• Breaking changes may occur without notice
• Data loss or corruption of your codebase is possible
• Generated code may not follow best practices or security standards
• Features are experimental and may not work as expected

Please only use this tool on test projects or in isolated development environments.

We recommend:

• ✅ Testing on sample/demo projects first
• ✅ Using version control and creating backups before running
• ✅ Running in --dry-run mode to preview changes
• ✅ Thoroughly reviewing any generated code before applying

Features

• 🔍 Multi-Language Support: Analyze Go, Python, JavaScript, Java, .NET, Ruby, PHP
• 📦 Library Detection: Automatically detect OpenTelemetry libraries and versions
• ☕ Enhanced Java Support: Improved Maven dependency scanning and detection (v0.1.0-beta.2+)
• ⚠️ Issue Detection: Find common problems and get actionable recommendations
• 🔧 Extensible: Add custom detectors and language support
• 📊 Multiple Output Formats: Text, JSON output options
• 🎯 AI & Template Code Generation: Generate instrumentation using AI agents or built-in templates
• 🧠 Knowledge Base Management: Discover, update, and query OpenTelemetry components across languages

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/getlawrence/cli/main/install.sh | bash

Using Go Install

go install github.com/getlawrence/cli@latest

Note: The binary will be installed as cli, not lawrence. To use it as lawrence, create a symlink:

# Add Go bin to your PATH
export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

# Create a symlink so you can use 'lawrence' command
ln -sf $(go env GOPATH)/bin/cli $(go env GOPATH)/bin/lawrence

Add the PATH export to your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.) to make it permanent.

Using Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

⚠️ Note: Homebrew installation is temporarily unavailable due to technical issues with cross-compilation. Please use one of the other installation methods below.

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release from the releases page.

Currently available for:

• Linux (x64)

⚠️ Note: macOS, Windows, and ARM64 support are temporarily unavailable due to CGO cross-compilation requirements. We're working to restore full platform support in future releases.

Using Docker

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace ghcr.io/getlawrence/cli analyze /workspace

📋 Note: Docker images are available for Linux x64 only at this time.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/getlawrence/cli.git
cd cli
go build -o lawrence

Quick Start

Analyze Current Directory

lawrence analyze

Analyze Specific Project

lawrence analyze /path/to/your/project

Get JSON Output

lawrence analyze --output json

Show Detailed Information

lawrence analyze --detailed

Commands

analyze

Analyze a codebase for OpenTelemetry usage and issues.

lawrence analyze [path] [flags]

Flags:
  -d, --detailed              Show detailed analysis including file-level information
  -l, --languages strings     Limit analysis to specific languages (go, python, java, etc.)
      --categories strings    Limit issues to specific categories (missing_library, configuration, etc.)
  -o, --output string         Output format (text, json, yaml) (default "text")
  -v, --verbose               Verbose output

Global Flags:
  -h, --help                  Show help information
      --version               Show version information

gen

Analyze a codebase and generate OpenTelemetry instrumentation using AI or templates.

lawrence gen [path] --mode template --dry-run

Flags:
  -l, --language string       Target language (go, javascript, python, java, dotnet, ruby, php)
  -a, --agent string          Preferred coding agent (gemini, claude, openai, github)
      --list-agents           List available coding agents
      --list-templates        List available templates
      --list-strategies       List available generation strategies
      --mode string           Generation mode (ai, template)
  -o, --output string         Output directory (template mode)
      --dry-run               Show what would be generated without writing files
      --show-prompt           Display the AI prompt that would be used
      --save-prompt string    Save the AI prompt to a file
  -c, --config string         Path to advanced OpenTelemetry config YAML

Advanced configuration (YAML)

You can pass a config file with advanced OpenTelemetry settings (instrumentations, propagators, sampler, exporters):

# otel.yaml
service_name: my-service
service_version: 1.2.3
environment: production
instrumentations: [http, express]
propagators: [tracecontext, baggage, b3]
sampler:
  type: traceidratio
  ratio: 0.2
exporters:
  traces:
    type: otlp
    protocol: http
    endpoint: https://otel-collector.example.com/v1/traces
    insecure: false

Use it with:

lawrence gen --mode template --config ./otel.yaml

knowledge

Manage the OpenTelemetry knowledge base for discovering and querying components across languages.

lawrence knowledge [command] [flags]

Commands:
  update [language]           Update knowledge base for specific language or all languages
  query [query]               Query knowledge base for components
  info                        Show knowledge base information
  providers                   List available providers

Examples:
  lawrence knowledge update                    # Update all supported languages
  lawrence knowledge update go                # Update Go language only
  lawrence knowledge update --force           # Force update even if recent data exists
  lawrence knowledge update --workers 4      # Use specific number of parallel workers
  lawrence knowledge query --language javascript --type Instrumentation
  lawrence knowledge query --name express
  lawrence knowledge query --status stable
  lawrence knowledge info                     # Show database statistics and metadata
  lawrence knowledge providers                # List supported languages and providers

Knowledge Base Update Flags

Flags for update command:
  -o, --output string         Output file path (default: knowledge.db)
  -f, --force                Force update even if recent data exists
  -w, --workers int          Number of parallel workers (0 = auto-detect based on CPU cores)
  -r, --rate-limit int       Rate limit for API requests per second per worker (default: 100)

Knowledge Base Query Flags

Flags for query command:
  -l, --language string      Filter by language
  -t, --type string          Filter by component type
  -c, --category string      Filter by component category
  -s, --status string        Filter by component status
      --support-level string Filter by support level
  -n, --name string          Filter by component name (partial match)
      --version string       Filter by version
      --framework string     Filter by framework

Supported Languages

See Contributing to add support for your language.

Current Limitations

As this project is in active development, please be aware of these current limitations:

• Platform Support: Currently only Linux x64 is supported due to CGO cross-compilation requirements
• Homebrew: Installation via Homebrew is temporarily disabled
• Beta Status: Features may change between releases; use --dry-run to preview changes
• Production Use: Not recommended for production codebases (see warning above)

We're actively working to address these limitations in future releases.

Examples

Basic Analysis

$ lawrence analyze
📊 OpenTelemetry Analysis Results
=================================

📂 Project Path: /path/to/project
🗣️  Languages Detected: [go]
📦 OpenTelemetry Libraries: 3
⚠️  Issues Found: 1

📦 OpenTelemetry Libraries Found:
---------------------------------
  • go.opentelemetry.io/otel (v1.21.0) - go
  • go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace (v1.21.0) - go
  • go.opentelemetry.io/contrib/instrumentation/net/http/otelhttp (v0.46.0) - go

ℹ️  Information (1):
  1. Missing metrics collection
     OpenTelemetry libraries found but no metrics instrumentation detected
     💡 Add OpenTelemetry metrics to monitor application performance and health

JSON Output

$ lawrence analyze --output json
{
  "analysis": {
    "root_path": "/path/to/project",
    "detected_languages": ["go"],
    "libraries": [
      {
        "name": "go.opentelemetry.io/otel",
        "version": "v1.21.0",
        "language": "go",
        "import_path": "go.opentelemetry.io/otel",
        "package_file": "/path/to/project/go.mod"
      }
    ]
  },
  "issues": [...]
}

Knowledge Base Management

# Update knowledge base for all languages
$ lawrence knowledge update
🔄 Updating OpenTelemetry knowledge base...
📦 Processing Go packages...
📦 Processing Python packages...
📦 Processing JavaScript packages...
✅ Knowledge base updated successfully

# Query for Express.js instrumentation
$ lawrence knowledge query --name express --language javascript
🔍 Query Results for "express" in JavaScript:
  • @opentelemetry/instrumentation-express (v0.33.0)
    Status: Stable
    Type: Instrumentation
    Support Level: Official
    Category: EXPERIMENTAL

# Show knowledge base statistics
$ lawrence knowledge info
📊 Knowledge Base Information
============================
Database: knowledge.db
Total Components: 1,247
Languages: 7
Last Updated: 2024-01-15 10:30:00 UTC

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Support

• 📖 Documentation
• 🐛 Issue Tracker
• 💬 Discussions