SEO.md CLI

The official CLI for the SEO.md open standard — AEO (AI Engine Optimization) infrastructure for technical founders.

Use it to scaffold, validate, analyze, and sync SEO.md files directly from your repo.

Table of Contents

• Why SEO.md
• Install
• Quick Start
• Configuration
• Commands
• Local Development
• Testing
• Release Notes (Contributor Tagging)
• Security
• Specification Reference
• License

Why SEO.md

SEO.md is a structured, version-controlled specification for describing your site, intent queries, and pages so AI engines can cite you more often.

• Declare what matters (site, identity, keywords, intent, pages)
• Run audits via your connected platform
• Write back _analysis blocks and per-page playbooks into your repo

Install

npm install -g seomd-cli

Or run without installing (zero-install):

npx seomd-cli init

Verify:

seomd --help

Quick Start

1) Initialize

Run in the root of your project:

seomd init

Or non-interactively with flags:

seomd init -y --type local
# or
seomd init --brand "Acme" --domain acme.com --primary-keyword "local seo"

2) Validate

seomd validate

3) Run an Audit (Analyze) and Sync

seomd analyze
seomd sync

4) View Status

seomd status
seomd status --json

Configuration

Copy .env.example from your platform provider docs, or create one with the vars you need:

Required for live audits:

SEOMD_API_URL=
SEOMD_API_KEY=your_key_here

Optional:

SEOMD_PAYMENT_TOKEN= # x402 pay-per-scan token
SEOMD_DOMAIN= # override domain header

If you don't have a platform key yet, seomd init still works without .env.

Commands

seomd init

Scaffolds SEO.md, SEO.REVERSE.md, and the .seo/ intelligence directory.

Usage:

seomd init                              # interactive 5-question flow
seomd init -y --type local              # skip prompts, use defaults
seomd init --brand "Acme" --domain acme.com  # non-interactive with partial flags
seomd init --type saas --brand "MyApp" --domain myapp.com --primary-keyword "billing automation" --output ./new-project

Options:

Flag	Description
-y, --yes	skip prompts, use defaults
--type <type>	site type: saas, ecommerce, local, blog, marketplace
--brand <name>	brand name
--domain <domain>	primary domain
--primary-keyword <keyword>	primary keyword
--competitors <list>	comma-separated competitor list
--output <dir>	scaffold into a new (empty) directory instead of cwd

Behavior:

• Interactive flow by default (5 questions)
• Non-interactive when -y is set OR any config flag (--brand, --domain, --primary-keyword, --competitors) is provided
• --type alone pre-selects site type in the interactive flow
• --output writes all files to the target directory (must be empty or non-existent)

seomd validate

Validates your SEO.md against the spec requirements.

seomd status

Shows current citation rates and gap scores from _analysis.

• --json outputs machine-readable JSON for scripts/CI

seomd analyze

Runs an AI search audit via your connected platform and writes results back into:

• SEO.md (_analysis blocks)
• SEO.REVERSE.md (generated reverse view)
• .seo/pages/*.md (per-page playbooks when available)

seomd sync

Pulls cached/latest platform intelligence and writes it back to the same files as analyze.

• --dry-run prints a preview and does not modify files

Built-in Templates

seomd-cli ships with type-specific templates under src/templates/. seomd init --type <type> uses the matching template automatically.

Type	Template dir	Best for
saas	src/templates/saas/	Software products, B2B tools, web apps
blog	src/templates/blog/	Content sites, newsletters, personal brands
ecommerce	src/templates/ecommerce/	Online stores, DTC brands, product catalogs
local	src/templates/local/	Service-area businesses, locations pages
marketplace	src/templates/marketplace/	Two-sided platforms, directories

Each template contains:

• SEO.md — pre-filled with type-specific intent queries, page structures, and negative keywords
• SEO.REVERSE.md — reverse-engineer output scaffold with placeholders for competitor analysis

Want to customize a template? Copy the relevant folder, edit the placeholders ({{brand}}, {{domain}}, etc.), and use --type with your custom scaffold.

Local Development

Prefer the local entrypoint while developing:

node ./bin/seomd.js --help
node ./bin/seomd.js init
node ./bin/seomd.js validate
node ./bin/seomd.js status --json

Testing

npm test

Release Notes (Contributor Tagging)

To generate a contributor section for a release (commit-based attribution), maintain mappings in .github/contributors.yml and generate markdown from a tag range:

npm run release:contributors -- --from v1.0.2 --to v1.0.3

To write output to a file:

npm run release:contributors -- --from v1.0.2 --to v1.0.3 --out notes/v1.0.3-contributors.md

To generate a full release note (changes + contributors) for a tag:

npm run release:notes -- --tag v1.0.3

Automation: the repository includes a GitHub Actions workflow that runs on tag push (v*) and creates/updates the GitHub Release using scripts/release-notes.js.

Platform Connections & API Keys

To enable live intelligence writebacks (using automated platforms like Foxcite):

1. Obtain a developer API key from your platform provider.

2. Export the key as an environment variable:

   export SEOMD_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

3. Run seomd sync or seomd analyze.

Note: Never commit your API keys or .env files containing keys to version control.

Security

• Never commit .env files or API keys
• Use .env.example as the template for required variables

Specification Reference

Read the complete specification and guidelines at seomd.dev/spec.

License

MIT License. Developed and maintained by the community.