Hammer CLI

R&D signal capture from git commits.

Hammer scores every git commit for R&D tax credit relevance (SR&ED in Canada, IRS Section 41 in the US). It runs silently as a post-commit hook, stores results locally, and optionally feeds HammerLedger for full evidence management.

Install

pip install hammer-cli

Requires Python 3.10+ and git.

Quick Start

# 1. Register (free -- 200 scores/month)
hammer init

# 2. Install the hook in your repo
cd your-repo
hammer install

# 3. That's it -- commits are scored automatically
git commit -m "Implement adaptive retry with exponential backoff"
# => 0.82 [Strong] Algorithmic uncertainty / experimentation

# 4. Check your R&D summary
hammer status

To install across multiple repos at once:

hammer install --scan ~/code

Commands

Command	Description
hammer init	Register with HammerAI and create ~/.hammer/ config
hammer install	Install post-commit hook in current repo (or --scan a directory)
hammer uninstall	Remove hooks from current repo or --all tracked repos
hammer score [REF]	Score a commit, range (a..b), or --all history
hammer scan [PATH]	Find all git repos under a directory and score every commit
hammer status	R&D scoring summary for current repo or --all repos
hammer log	List scored commits with scores and categories
hammer export	Export qualifying commits as JSON or CSV
hammer push	Push scored commits to a HammerLedger instance
hammer override	Set per-repo config overrides (domain, ledger ID)
hammer flush	Retry scoring for queued commits (offline recovery)
hammer exclude	Exclude repos from automatic scoring by name or pattern
hammer prune	Delete old or low-scoring commit data
hammer migrate	Rename a project's scored data directory
hammer config	View or edit global configuration
hammer doctor	Diagnose installation, connectivity, and hook status

How It Works

1. hammer install adds a post-commit hook to your repo's .git/hooks/. The hook runs in the background and never blocks your workflow. Hooks are per-repo -- Hammer does not modify your global git config.

2. On each commit, the hook sends commit metadata to the scoring API at api.hammerai.ai. The API classifies the commit's R&D relevance and returns a score from 0.0 to 1.0.

3. Results are stored locally at ~/.hammer/commits/{project}/{hash}.json. Nothing is written inside your repository.

4. If the API is unreachable, the commit is queued locally and retried on the next commit or via hammer flush.

Score Thresholds

Score	Label	Meaning
>= 0.8	Strong	Clear R&D indicators across uncertainty, experimentation, advancement
>= 0.6	Moderate	Meaningful R&D signals present
>= 0.4	Weak	Some technical unknowns, mostly routine
>= 0.2	Minimal	Standard development work
< 0.2	None	Purely routine, no R&D signals

Commits scoring 0.6 or above are considered qualifying for tax credit evidence.

Privacy

Metadata-only by default. Hammer sends commit messages, file names, and line counts. No source code leaves your machine unless you explicitly opt in.

Optional diff scoring. Enable with hammer config set send_diff true to send truncated diffs (up to 12KB) for more accurate classification. Disable at any time.

Zero-retention API. Scoring uses Anthropic Claude with a zero-retention policy -- inputs are not stored or used for model training by Anthropic.

Per-repo hooks only. Hammer installs hooks individually per repository. It never sets a global hooks path and does not interfere with existing post-commit hooks (it appends to them).

Local storage. All scored data lives at ~/.hammer/. Remove everything with hammer uninstall --all or rm -rf ~/.hammer.

Full privacy policy: hammerai.ai/privacy

Export and HammerLedger

Hammer CLI works standalone for local R&D signal tracking. For teams that need cryptographic evidence seals, audit trails, and T661 form generation, scored commits can be pushed to HammerLedger:

# Export locally
hammer export --format json --min-score 0.6 -o evidence.json
hammer export --format csv --min-score 0.6 -o evidence.csv

# Or push directly to HammerLedger
hammer config set ledger_url https://app.hammerledger.com
hammer config set ledger_id led_your_id
hammer push --dry-run    # preview first
hammer push              # send to ledger

Configuration

Global config is stored at ~/.hammer/config.json.

hammer config show                          # view all settings
hammer config set send_diff true            # enable diff scoring
hammer config set ledger_url https://...    # set ledger endpoint

Per-repo overrides for scoring domain or ledger ID:

hammer override --domain sred --ledger-id led_mobile_2026
hammer override --show

Pricing

Plan	Scoring	Scores/month	Cost
Free	Metadata only	1,000	$0
Pro	Metadata + code diffs	Unlimited	$19/month

Upgrade from the terminal:

hammer upgrade

Support

• Questions and feedback: GitHub Issues
• Email: info@hammerai.ai

License

MIT

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Built by HammerAI.