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PTA Standards

PTA Tooling Specifications ​

This directory contains specifications for tooling that works with Plain Text Accounting formats.

Overview ​

Tooling specifications define:

  • Standard tool interfaces
  • Output formats
  • Interoperability requirements
  • Editor integrations

Categories ​

Canonical Output ​

Standardized output formats for consistent cross-tool behavior.

canonical/
├── spec.md        # Canonical format specification
├── ledger.md      # Ledger canonical output
├── hledger.md     # hledger canonical output
└── beancount.md   # Beancount canonical output

Linting ​

Code quality and style checking rules.

linting/
├── spec.md              # Linting framework
└── rules/
    ├── style.md         # Style rules
    ├── correctness.md   # Correctness rules
    └── consistency.md   # Consistency rules

Diff Tools ​

Semantic differencing for journals.

diff/
├── spec.md       # Diff algorithm specification
└── semantic.md   # Semantic diff rules

MCP Integration ​

Model Context Protocol integration for AI assistants.

mcp/
└── spec.md       # MCP server specification

WASM ​

WebAssembly compilation targets.

wasm/
└── spec.md       # WASM interface specification

Tool Categories ​

Parsers ​

  • Syntax parsing
  • AST generation
  • Error recovery

Validators ​

  • Balance checking
  • Account validation
  • Constraint verification

Formatters ​

  • Code formatting
  • Canonical output
  • Pretty printing

Converters ​

  • Format conversion
  • Import/export
  • Migration tools

Analyzers ​

  • Balance reports
  • Register views
  • Budget analysis

Editors ​

  • Syntax highlighting
  • Code completion
  • Error diagnostics

Cross-Format Considerations ​

Common Interface ​

All tools SHOULD support:

bash
tool check FILE          # Validate
tool format FILE         # Format
tool convert FILE -o FMT # Convert

Exit Codes ​

CodeMeaning
0Success
1Parse error
2Validation error
3File not found

Output Formats ​

  • Human-readable (default)
  • JSON (--format json)
  • TAP (--format tap)

Integration Points ​

Editor Integration ​

  • Language Server Protocol (LSP)
  • Tree-sitter grammars
  • Syntax highlighting queries

CI/CD Integration ​

  • Pre-commit hooks
  • GitHub Actions
  • Validation pipelines

AI Integration ​

  • MCP servers
  • Structured output
  • Natural language queries

See Also ​