Documentation

This documentation covers all available commands in the SCCS (Specialized Contract Control System) — a version control and diffing tool designed specifically for .docx legal contracts and documents.

Branch — Create, delete, and manage branches
Clone — Clone a hosted repository
Commit — Commit changes to the repository
Config — Configure repository settings
Diff — Display differences between commits
Help — Display help information
Init — Initialize a new repository
Log — View commit history
Merge — Merge branches together
Open — Open a historical commit
Publish — Publish repository to a hosting service
Pull — Pull changes from remote repository
Push — Push changes to remote repository
Reset — Discard uncommitted changes
Revert — Revert to a previous commit
Status — Check for uncommitted changes
Switch — Switch between branches

Branch

Create, delete, and list branches within your repository.

Usage

sccs branch <subcommand> [branch-name]

Subcommands

create

Creates a new branch based on the current branch.

Usage: sccs branch create <branch-name>

Arguments:

<branch-name> — The name of the new branch to create

Behavior:

The new branch inherits all commits and history from the current branch
The newly created branch becomes the current branch
Branch names are sanitized to be valid directory names
Fails if a branch with the same name already exists

Example:

sccs branch create feature-update

delete

Deletes an existing branch.

Usage: sccs branch delete <branch-name>

Arguments:

<branch-name> — The name of the branch to delete

Behavior:

Cannot delete the current branch (switch branches first)
Removes the branch from all metadata files
Fails if the branch does not exist
Changes are rolled back if deletion fails partway through

Example:

sccs branch delete old-version

list

Displays all branches in the repository, marking the current branch with an asterisk.

Usage: sccs branch list

Arguments: None

Behavior:

Lists all branches in alphabetical order
Marks the current branch with * (current)
Other branches are prefixed with spaces

Example Output:

Branches:

  backup-branch
  feature-update
* main (current)

Clone

Download a hosted SCCS repository to your local machine.

Usage

sccs clone <url>

Arguments

<url> — The hosted repository URL (must be a valid HTTP/HTTPS URL)

Behavior

Automatically appends /clone to the URL if not present
Downloads and extracts the repository as a zip file
Creates a folder named after the repository in the current directory
Requires internet connectivity

Example

sccs clone https://api.example.com/legal-contracts

Commit

Save the current document changes as a new commit in the repository.

Usage

sccs commit "<commit-message>"

Arguments

<commit-message> — A descriptive message describing the changes (required, cannot be empty)

Behavior

Creates a snapshot of the current document state
Generates a unique SHA-256 commit hash
Stores both .docx and .html versions
Commits are immutable once created
Records the author name and email (from config) and timestamp

Example

sccs commit "Updated Section 3 terms and conditions"

Config

Configure repository-specific settings.

Usage

sccs config <key> <value>

Arguments

<key> — The configuration key to set (see valid keys below)
<value> — The value to assign to the key

Valid Configuration Keys

name

Your name, used to identify commits you make.

Example:

sccs config name "John Doe"

email

Your email address, used alongside your name in commit metadata.

Example:

sccs config email "john.doe@example.com"

remote

The URL of the remote hosting service for push/pull operations.

Example:

sccs config remote https://api.example.com/repos

Behavior

The remote value is automatically formatted to end with /repos/<repository-name>
Remote URLs must start with http:// or https://
Configuration values are stored in .sccs/config/config.json

Diff

Generate an HTML redline document showing differences between two commits.

Usage

sccs diff <commit-hash>

Arguments

<commit-hash> — The commit SHA hash (or first 10 characters) to compare against the current document

Behavior

Compares the historical commit with the current document
Creates an HTML file named redline.html in the current directory
Color-codes changes:
Deleted content appears with a "deleted" class (typically red strikethrough)
Inserted content appears with an "inserted" class (typically green highlight)
Removes inline formatting tags to avoid duplication in the diff
Can be opened in any web browser

Example

sccs diff 5a3b2c1d9e

Help

Display a list of all available SCCS commands.

Usage

sccs help

Arguments

None

Behavior

Prints a summary of all available commands with brief descriptions
Useful as a quick reference guide

Init

Initialize a new SCCS repository for a .docx document.

Usage

sccs init <file-path>

Arguments

<file-path> — The path to the .docx file to initialize

Behavior

Creates the .sccs directory structure
Prompts for your name and email (used for commits)
Moves the document into a repository directory
Creates an initial commit with the document's current state
Initializes the main branch
Fails if the file has already been initialized or is not a .docx file

Prompted Inputs

name — Your full name
email — Your email address

Example

sccs init contract.docx

Output

Enter your name: Jane Smith
Enter your email: jane.smith@example.com
SCCS initialization complete.

Log

Display the commit history for the current branch.

Usage

sccs log

Arguments

None

Behavior

Shows all commits in the current branch in reverse chronological order
Displays for each commit:
First 10 characters of the SHA hash
Commit author
Timestamp (ISO 8601 format)
Commit message
Each commit entry is separated by a dashed line

Example Output

------------------------------
Commit File: 5a3b2c1d9e
Author: John Doe <john.doe@example.com>
Date: 2025-01-15T14:30:45.123456
Message: Updated liability clause
------------------------------

Merge

Merge another branch into the current branch.

Usage

sccs merge <branch-name>

Arguments

<branch-name> — The name of the branch to merge into the current branch

Behavior

Copies all commit history from the source branch to the current branch
Overwrites the current document with the source branch's latest version
Creates an automatic commit with a merge message
Cannot merge a branch into itself
Fails if the target branch does not exist
Requires no uncommitted changes

Example

sccs merge feature-update

Output

Successfully merged branch 'feature-update' into branch 'main'.

Open

Open a historical commit and update the current document to that version.

Usage

sccs open <commit-hash>

Arguments

<commit-hash> — The SHA hash (or first 10 characters) of the commit to open

Behavior

Displays a confirmation prompt before overwriting the current document
Replaces the current document with the selected historical version
Does not create a new commit (use after this if you want to save changes)
Fails if the commit does not exist
Requires no uncommitted changes

Example

sccs open 5a3b2c1d9e

Confirmation Prompt

Are you sure you want to overwrite './contract.docx' with the contents of 'commit_5a3b2c1d9e'?
This action will replace the current content of the .docx file. (Y/N):

Publish

Publish the repository to a remote hosting service.

Usage

sccs publish

Arguments

None

Behavior

Requires a remote URL configured via sccs config remote
Compresses the entire repository into a zip file
Sends the zip to the remote server via HTTP POST
Resets the current branch to main before publishing
Provides status code and confirmation message

Example

sccs publish

Output

Publishing repository to https://api.example.com/repos/contract...

Status Code: 200

Repository published successfully to https://api.example.com/repos/contract

Pull

Fetch and merge changes from a remote repository.

Usage

sccs pull

Arguments

None

Behavior

Requires a remote URL configured via sccs config remote
Compares local commits with remote commits
Downloads only the missing commit objects
Merges remote history into the local repository
Updates the current document to match the remote

Example

sccs pull

Output

Pulling repository from https://api.example.com/repos/contract...

Status Code: 200

Repository pulled successfully from https://api.example.com/repos/contract

Push

Send local changes to a remote repository.

Usage

sccs push

Arguments

None

Behavior

Requires a remote URL configured via sccs config remote
Compares local and remote commit objects
Uploads only commits that the remote is missing
Fails if the local repository is missing commits from the remote
Clears the updated_branches list after successful push

Example

sccs push

Output

Pushing changes to remote repository at https://api.example.com/repos/contract...

Status code: 200

Changes pushed successfully to https://api.example.com/repos/contract/push

Reset

Discard all uncommitted changes and restore the document to the latest commit.

Usage

sccs reset

Arguments

None

Behavior

Replaces the current document with the latest commit on the current branch
Fails if there are no uncommitted changes to reset
Irreversible operation (use with caution)

Example

sccs reset

Output

All uncommitted changes have been deleted. The document has been reset to the latest commit.

Revert

Create a new commit that reverts the document to a previous commit state.

Usage

sccs revert <commit-hash>

Arguments

<commit-hash> — The SHA hash (or first 10 characters) of the commit to revert to

Behavior

Reverts the document to the state of the specified commit
Automatically creates a new commit with message Revert to commit '<hash>'
The revert is saved as a new commit in the history
Different from reset because it preserves history (creates a new commit)
Fails if the specified commit does not exist
Requires no uncommitted changes

Example

sccs revert 5a3b2c1d9e

Output

Document successfully reverted to commit '5a3b2c1d' on commit '8f4e9d2c1b'.

Status

Check for uncommitted changes in the current document.

Usage

sccs status

Arguments

None

Behavior

Compares the current document with the latest commit
Uses binary hash comparison (detects any changes, no matter how small)
Prints one of two messages:
"Uncommitted changes detected." — if the document has been modified
"No uncommitted changes detected." — if the document matches the latest commit

Example

sccs status

Output

Uncommitted changes detected.

Switch

Switch between branches.

Usage

sccs switch <branch-name>

Arguments

<branch-name> — The name of the branch to switch to

Behavior

Updates metadata to mark the specified branch as current
Replaces the current document with the latest commit from the target branch
Fails if the target branch does not exist
Fails if there are uncommitted changes (commit or reset first)
The switched branch becomes the active branch for all future operations

Example

sccs switch feature-update

Output

Successfully switched to branch 'feature-update'.

Quick Start Guide

1. Initialize a New Repository

sccs init my_contract.docx

2. Configure Your Identity

sccs config name "Your Name"
sccs config email "your.email@example.com"

3. Create Your First Commit

sccs commit "Initial version of contract"

4. Check Status

sccs status

5. View Commit History

sccs log

6. Create and Switch to a New Branch

sccs branch create revision-v2
sccs switch revision-v2

7. Make Changes and Commit

# (Edit your document)
sccs commit "Updated payment terms"

8. View Differences

sccs diff <previous-commit-hash>

9. Merge Back to Main

sccs switch main
sccs merge revision-v2

10. Configure Remote and Push

sccs config remote https://api.example.com
sccs push

Notes

All commit hashes are SHA-256 hexadecimal strings; only the first 10 characters are typically needed
Document .docx files are automatically converted to .html for diffing purposes
All timestamps are stored in ISO 8601 format
Branch names and document names are sanitized to be valid directory names
The .sccs folder contains all version control metadata and should not be manually edited

Documentation

Table of Contents

Branch

Usage

Subcommands

create

delete

list

Clone

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Commit

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Config

Usage

Arguments

Valid Configuration Keys

name

email

remote

Behavior

Diff

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Help

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Init

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Prompted Inputs

Example

Output

Log

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example Output

Merge

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Output

Open

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Confirmation Prompt

Publish

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Output

Pull

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Output

Push

Usage

Arguments

Behavior

Example

Output

Reset

Usage

Arguments