Quick Start

Step 1 — Bootstrap

Navigate to your repository and initialize Certify:

cd your-repo
certify init

This creates:

.certification/
├── config.yml          # configuration
├── policies/
│   ├── go-standard.yml # universal Go rules
│   └── go-library.yml  # library-specific (auto-detected)

It also generates GitHub Actions workflows in .github/workflows/.

Step 2 — Discover

Scan your repository to find all certifiable code units:

certify scan

Output:

  Detecting languages...
  • go: 47 files (config found)
  Go adapter: 182 symbols
✓ Discovered 195 code units (saved to .certification/index.json)

Certify finds functions, methods, types, and files using language-aware adapters.

Step 3 — Certify

Evaluate every unit against your policies:

certify certify

This collects evidence (lint results, test status, git history, AST structural analysis, complexity metrics), evaluates against policy packs, scores across 9 quality dimensions, and assigns certification status.

  Collected 4 repo-level evidence items
  Processing... 195/195
✓ Certified 195/195 units

Step 4 — Report

Generate your report card:

certify report

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║              CERTIFY — REPORT CARD                          ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║       Overall Grade:  🟢 B+       Score: 87.3%              ║
║  Total Units:     195       Pass Rate:   100.0%              ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

For the complete markdown report card:

certify report --format full

For a browsable static HTML site:

certify report --site

Step 5 — Architect Review (Optional)

If you have an AI provider configured, run a 6-phase architectural analysis:

certify architect

This analyzes your package structure, dependencies, quality patterns, test strategy, and security posture — producing a comprehensive ARCHITECT_REVIEW.md with prioritized recommendations and projected metric improvements.

Troubleshooting

If anything went wrong, run the built-in diagnostics:

certify doctor

This checks your environment, configuration, policies, tools, AI providers, and analysis tiers per language — showing exactly what’s available and what to install for deeper analysis. See Doctor & Onboard →