oocat

Sovereign syntax-highlighting file viewer and pager for the openOODA era.
A drop-in bat / cat replacement written in pure openOODA, featuring negative-trust capability security, syntax highlighting via oote themes, line numbering, range windowing, and a first-class Model Context Protocol (MCP) surface.

Part of openOODA-tools.

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1. Installation

oocat has zero runtime dependencies. It compiles to a standalone native binary linked directly with libc.

Universal Web Installer

Installs the standalone native binary to /usr/local/bin (or ~/.local/bin):

curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/install.sh | bash

Debian / Ubuntu (APT)

# Automated via installer
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/install.sh | bash -s -- --apt

# Or manual package install
sudo dpkg -i oocat_0.2.0-1_amd64.deb

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS (DNF)

# Automated via installer
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/install.sh | bash -s -- --dnf

# Or manual RPM install
sudo dnf install ./oocat-0.2.0-1.x86_64.rpm

Arch Linux (PKGBUILD)

# Automated via installer
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/install.sh | bash -s -- --arch

# Or manual build via packaging/PKGBUILD
cd packaging && makepkg -si

Clean Uninstaller

To cleanly remove oocat and any installed package manager entries:

# Automated via standalone uninstaller
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/uninstall.sh | bash

# Or via installer flag
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/install.sh | bash -s -- --uninstall

# Or preview removal without making changes (dry-run)
curl -fsSL https://openooda-tools.github.io/oocat/uninstall.sh | bash -s -- --dry-run

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2. CLI Usage

usage: oocat [options] [FILE]...

Concatenate FILE(s) to standard output with syntax highlighting and line numbers.
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

Options:
  -n, --number             number all output lines
  -b, --number-nonblank    number nonempty output lines, overrides -n
  -s, --squeeze-blank      suppress repeated empty output lines
  -A, --show-all           display $ at end of each line, show tabs as ^I
  -r, --line-range <R>     only output lines within range (e.g. 10:30, :20, 50:)
  -l, --language <LANG>    override syntax language highlighter
  -t, --theme <THEME>      override syntax color theme
      --style <STYLE>      display style: plain, numbers, grid, full [default: full]
      --color <WHEN>       colorize output: auto, always, never [default: auto]
      --no-color           disable syntax highlighting
      --mcp                run as Model Context Protocol stdio server
  -h, --help               display this help and exit
  -v, --version            output version information and exit

Common Examples

# Display source file with syntax highlighting, line numbers, and file header
oocat main.oo

# Display specific line range (supports attached flags like -r10:30)
oocat main.oo -r10:30

# Simple cat mode without frames or line numbers
oocat main.oo --style plain

# Override language and theme via attached flags
oocat data.txt -ljson -tclassic/1982

# Standard UNIX pipe processing (defaults to raw uncolored text unless --color=always)
git diff | oocat - --style numbers

# Squeeze repeated blank lines and number non-empty lines
oocat -s -b script.sh

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3. Theming Integration (oote)

oocat automatically discovers and synchronizes visual presentation with oote:

• Configuration File: Reads ~/.openooda/theme.oot with $HOME fallback.
• Environment Overrides: Respects OODA_THEME, NO_COLOR, OO_NO_COLOR.
• Supported Languages: Built-in lexers for openOODA, Shell, C/C++, JSON, Python, Markdown, Rust, and plain.

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4. Model Context Protocol (MCP)

oocat includes a built-in JSON-RPC 2.0 streaming MCP stdio server for LLM coding agents:

oocat --mcp

Supported Tools:

1. view_file: Inspects and slices file content with line count and total lines metadata (path, start_line, end_line, highlight, theme, show_line_numbers).
2. highlight_code: Formats arbitrary code snippets with oote syntax tokens for terminal rendering (code, language, theme).
3. list_languages: Enumerates all supported language syntax highlighters.
4. slice_lines: Pure in-memory line range extraction with clamping (content, start_line, end_line).

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5. Security & Architecture

• Zero Ambient Authority: Written in pure openOODA with capability-bounded tokens (&FsReadCap, &EnvCap).
• No Shell Escapes: Pure native execution without /bin/sh invocations.
• Page Rule & Academy Governance: 100% compliant with the openOODA Academy and House Laws codified in AGENTS.md.

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6. License

Apache License, Version 2.0. See LICENSE for full text.