Maestro CLI

Query Maestro/BAR data via the mstro CLI tool instead of loading MCP tools into context. Same data, same caching, zero context tax — agents discover capabilities progressively through --help and mstro guide.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You need Maestro/BAR data but the maestro MCP server isn't configured
• You're scripting or chaining commands with jq, grep, or other CLI tools
• You want structured JSON output for downstream processing
• The task is one-shot (not a multi-turn conversational investigation)

Prefer MCP-based skills (flow-analysis, flow-tracing) when:

• The maestro MCP server is already loaded in your tool list
• You're doing multi-turn conversational investigation
• You need markdown-formatted output with visual indicators

Installation

dotnet tool install -g lewing.maestro.mcp

After installation, mstro is available globally. Verify: mstro --help

Note: The same package (lewing.maestro.mcp) serves as both a .NET global tool (providing the mstro CLI) and an MCP server (via dotnet dnx). The CLI is what this skill uses.

Authentication

Three-tier cascade (automatic fallback):

1. MAESTRO_BAR_TOKEN env var — explicit PAT
2. Cached Entra ID — reuses darc authenticate credentials from ~/.darc/.auth-record-*
3. Anonymous — read-only fallback (may be rate-limited)

Run darc authenticate once for persistent credentials.

Progressive Discovery

Don't memorize commands. Discover them:

mstro --help              # All commands, one line each
mstro <command> --help    # Parameters for a specific command
mstro <command> --schema  # JSON response field names (for jq pipelines)
mstro guide               # Workflow-organized guide (~3KB)

Before writing jq queries, run --schema to see the response shape:

mstro subscription-health --schema   # → shows StaleSubs[].Id, .BuildsBehind, etc.
mstro latest-build --schema          # → shows Id, Repository, Commit, etc.

Common Patterns

All query commands support --json (structured output) and --no-cache (fresh data).

Check subscription health

mstro subscription-health --target-repository https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet --json

Find latest build

mstro latest-build https://github.com/dotnet/runtime --channel-name ".NET 10.0.1xx SDK" --json

Check codeflow status

mstro codeflow-statuses --json

Trace a build graph

mstro build-graph <build-id> --json

Trigger a stale subscription

# Provide --source-repository + --channel-name (auto-resolves latest build)
mstro trigger-subscription <guid> --source-repository https://github.com/dotnet/runtime --channel-name ".NET 10.0.1xx SDK"
# Or provide --build-id directly. Add --force to overwrite stale PR branch.

Chaining with jq

Use mstro <command> --schema to see all response fields before writing jq queries.

# Count stale subscriptions (StaleSubs[].Id, .BuildsBehind, .SourceRepository, .ChannelName)
mstro subscription-health --target-repository https://github.com/dotnet/dotnet --json | jq '.StaleSubs | length'

# Filter channels by name
mstro channels --json | jq '.[] | select(.Name | contains("10.0"))'

# Get build ID then trace graph
BUILD_ID=$(mstro latest-build https://github.com/dotnet/runtime --json | jq -r '.Id')
mstro build-graph $BUILD_ID --json

Cache

Shared SQLite cache at ~/.mstro/cache.db (WAL mode). Cache is shared between CLI and MCP server instances — using the CLI warms the cache for MCP and vice versa.

• mstro cache status — show cache stats
• mstro cache clear — clear all cached data
• --no-cache on any command bypasses cache