Monogrid

Monogrid ensures every line in a Unicode box drawing has the same visual width — accounting for CJK characters (2 columns), emoji (2 columns), combining marks (0 width), and ASCII (1 column). The width tables are Q.E.D verified across xterm.js, Alacritty, and Ghostty. Published contract: monogrid 0.2.1, OpenCLIs build 2026-05-23-201214. The executing binary, registry, and public CDN metadata agree on this release. The published dispatcher has six operational roots: check, fix, qed, structure, report, and --mcp-schema (mcp-schema alias), plus help/version aliases and implicit file checking. Current source adds docs as a seventh root, but that source-ahead command is not in the public build above.

Quick Start

# Check a file
monogrid check docs/guide.md

# Auto-fix alignment issues
monogrid fix docs/guide.md

# Verify at character level
monogrid qed docs/guide.md

Monogrid is a standalone native binary with no Python runtime dependency.

Installation

Install the current public payload through OpenCLIs:

openclis install monogrid

# Verify
monogrid --version
monogrid --help

Commands

Command	Purpose	Mutation boundary
`check <files...>`	Runs all applicable alignment checks.	Read-only; non-zero when issues exist.
`fix <files...>`	Iteratively repairs Rule 1 and, by default, Rule 6.	Edits files in place.
`qed <files...>`	Recomputes visual widths character by character.	Read-only deep proof after repairs.
`structure <files...>`	Detects nested boxes that overflow their outer boundaries.	Read-only; findings require manual redesign.
`report <files...>`	Prints one compact, issue-sorted line per file.	Read-only batch survey.
`docs [topic]`	Source-main command that lists or serves embedded agent documentation.	Read-only, but not shipped in public build `2026-05-23-201214`; that payload reports `Unknown command: docs`.
`--mcp-schema` / `mcp-schema`	Emits typed JSON for `check`, `qed`, `structure`, and `report`.	Read-only discovery; mutating `fix` is deliberately omitted.
`help` / `-h` / `--help`	Prints the embedded complete guide.	Read-only.
`version` / `-V` / `--version`	Prints the executing payload version.	Read-only.

Passing files without a command is an implicit check.

Embedded Docs and MCP Boundary

monogrid --mcp-schema      # typed read-only command schema

# Current source builds only; not the published 0.2.1 payload
monogrid docs              # list topics
monogrid docs index        # bundled agent reference

The MCP schema contains exactly four commands: check, qed, structure, and report. It excludes fix, docs, help, and version. Monogrid also has no native --json result mode; typed MCP-to-CLI calls therefore return text. A schema entry proves argument mapping, not that a file passes alignment checks. Use monogrid help or this page for embedded guidance on the public build; monogrid docs becomes valid only after a later payload includes the current source dispatcher.

Published Platforms

Target	Artifact
macOS Arm64	Yes
macOS x86_64	Yes
Linux x86_64	Yes
Linux Arm64	Yes
Windows x86_64	Yes
Windows Arm64	No

All five artifacts expose the same file-oriented command parser. Shell glob expansion is still owned by the host shell, not by Monogrid itself.

check — Inspect Without Modifying

monogrid check <files...> [-v] [--show-flow]

Flag	Description
`-v`	Verbose — show box details (pattern, nesting, inner boxes)
`--show-flow`	Show flow diagram detections (info only)

Implicit check: monogrid file.md works without the check keyword. Exit code 0 if no issues, 1 if issues found.

fix — Auto-Fix with Loop

monogrid fix <files...> [--outer-only] [--max-iter N] [--qed]

Flag	Description
`--fix-all`	Fix outer width + inner │ position (default)
`--outer-only`	Fix outer width only
`--max-iter N`	Max iterations (default: 10)
`--qed`	Run Q.E.D verification after fixing

Repeats check-fix cycles until 0 issues or max iterations reached.

This command modifies files in place.

qed — Q.E.D Deep Verification

monogrid qed <files...>

Character-by-character width analysis. For each box:

Calculates visual width of every line
Lists every non-ASCII character with its Unicode codepoint and width
Groups by category (COMBINING, BMP_WIDE, HIGH_WIDE, DEFAULT)
Verifies recalculated width matches expected

Only meaningful after all issues are fixed.

structure — Structural Analysis

monogrid structure <files...>

Detects inner boxes that overflow outer box boundaries. Shows left/right margins for each nested box. Cannot be auto-fixed — requires manual redesign.

report — Compact File Survey

monogrid report <files...>

One-line-per-file summary sorted by issue count. Useful for surveying large documentation sets before batch fixing.

Workflow

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  RECOMMENDED WORKFLOW                                            │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│  Step 0: monogrid report docs/*.mdx                              │
│          → Survey: which files, how many issues                  │
│                                                                  │
│  Step 1: monogrid fix docs/*.mdx                                 │
│          → Auto-fix outer + inner Rule 6 (~90% resolved)         │
│                                                                  │
│  Step 2: monogrid check docs/problem-file.mdx -v                 │
│          → See remaining issues (manual-only rules)              │
│                                                                  │
│  Step 3: monogrid structure docs/problem-file.mdx                │
│          → Diagnose structural overflows                         │
│                                                                  │
│  Step 4: (manual edit) + monogrid qed docs/file.mdx              │
│          → Character-level proof of correctness                  │
│                                                                  │
│  Step 5: monogrid report docs/*.mdx                              │
│          → Confirm 0 issues across all files                     │
│                                                                  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

What It Checks

Monogrid enforces 9 alignment rules:

Rule	Name	Auto-Fix
1	Outer box width consistency	Yes
2	Missing inner border (closing │)	No
3	Inner ║ position consistency	No
4	Inner border ═ width match	No
5	Flow diagram recognition	Info only
6	Single-line box │ position	Yes
7	Missing border (content overflow)	No
8	Legacy ASCII border detection; convert to `┌───┐` form	No
9	Structural overflow analysis	No

Rules 1 and 6 are auto-fixable. All other rules require manual correction because they need semantic understanding of the diagram.

Width Rules

CodexMono renders characters at these widths:

Category	Width	Examples
ASCII	1	`A-Z`, `0-9`, `!@#`
Box Drawing	1	`┌ ─ ┐ │ └ ┘ ╔ ═ ╗ ║`
CJK Ideographs	2	`漢字 한 글`
Hangul Syllables	2	`가 나 다`
Emoji	2	`✅ ❌ ⭐ 💥 🔥`
Fullwidth ASCII	2	`ＡＢＣ`
Combining Marks	0	Variation Selectors (VS16)

Common mistake: ⚠ (U+26A0) is width 1, not 2. But ⚡ (U+26A1) is width 2. These are only 1 codepoint apart but have different widths. Monogrid’s tables handle this correctly.

Self-Verification

Monogrid’s own --help output passes monogrid check with 0 issues:

monogrid --help > /tmp/help.txt
monogrid check /tmp/help.txt
# ✅ All boxes aligned correctly (outer + inner)!
# Total issues found: 0

Origin

Monogrid began as the native Rust port of check-boxes.py v5.7. Its Unicode width tables were verified through ASURA research across xterm.js, Alacritty, and Ghostty; current release truth is owned by the Rust payload and its tests, not by historical source line counts.

Relationships

Tool	Ownership
MonoGlyph	Converts images/screens into glyph fields; Monogrid verifies textual box geometry
NIIA	Orchestrates documentation workflows that can use Monogrid as a quality gate
MonoTerm	Renders terminal UI; Monogrid checks source diagrams, not live TUI layout
CodexMono	Defines the intended monospace rendering context; Monogrid owns source-width checks, not font installation

Get Started

Articles

So Anthropic

User Guide

Philosophy

Applied Philosophy

Architecture

Gestalt Color

Transparency

Terminal Core

Features

VariableMD

Research

CodexMono

OpenCLIs

vpncli

MonoSurf

AI-CLIs

Quick Start

Installation

Commands

Embedded Docs and MCP Boundary

Published Platforms

check — Inspect Without Modifying

fix — Auto-Fix with Loop

qed — Q.E.D Deep Verification

structure — Structural Analysis

report — Compact File Survey

Workflow

What It Checks

Width Rules

Self-Verification

Origin

Relationships

​Quick Start

​Installation

​Commands

​Embedded Docs and MCP Boundary

​Published Platforms

​check — Inspect Without Modifying

​fix — Auto-Fix with Loop

​qed — Q.E.D Deep Verification

​structure — Structural Analysis

​report — Compact File Survey

​Workflow

​What It Checks

​Width Rules

​Self-Verification

​Origin

​Relationships

Quick Start

Installation

Commands

Embedded Docs and MCP Boundary

Published Platforms

check — Inspect Without Modifying

fix — Auto-Fix with Loop

qed — Q.E.D Deep Verification

structure — Structural Analysis

report — Compact File Survey

Workflow

What It Checks

Width Rules

Self-Verification

Origin

Relationships