CLI Reference

Every command in the docex command-line tool. Install with git clone https://github.com/favstats/docex.git and run with node cli/docex-cli.js or create an alias.

# Create an alias (add to your shell profile)
alias docex="node /path/to/docex/cli/docex-cli.js"

# Verify it works
docex --version
# docex 0.4.0

replace

Replace text with tracked changes. The old text appears as strikethrough and the new text as an insertion in Word's review pane.

docex replace <file> <old> <new> [--author <name>]

docex replace paper.docx "12,847" "300,000" --author "Alex"

Output:

Replaced "12,847" with "300,000" (tracked change by Alex)
Saved paper.docx (verified: 212 paragraphs, 156.2 KB)

insert

Insert a new paragraph at a position. The selector uses after: or before: prefix to target headings or text.

docex insert <file> <position> <text>

docex insert paper.docx "after:Methods" "We used a mixed-methods approach."

Output:

Inserted paragraph after "Methods"
Saved paper.docx (verified: 213 paragraphs, 156.8 KB)

delete

Delete text (tracked). Shows as strikethrough in Word.

docex delete <file> <text>

docex delete paper.docx "redundant sentence here"

Output:

Deleted "redundant sentence here" (tracked change)
Saved paper.docx

comment

Add a comment anchored to a text phrase.

docex comment <file> <anchor> <text> --by <name>

docex comment paper.docx "digital wellbeing" "Needs citation" --by "Reviewer 2"

Output:

Added comment by "Reviewer 2" on "digital wellbeing": "Needs citation"
Saved paper.docx

reply

Reply to an existing comment. The reply shows as a threaded response in Word.

docex reply <file> <comment-id> <text> --by <name>

docex reply paper.docx 1 "Added Johnson 2022 citation." --by "Alex Chen"

Output:

Replied to comment #1 by "Alex Chen": "Added Johnson 2022 citation."
Saved paper.docx

list

List document contents by type.

docex list <file> <type>

docex list paper.docx headings

Output:

Headings in paper.docx:
  H1  The Effects of Social Media on Sleep Quality
  H2  Abstract
  H2  Introduction
  H2  Literature Review
  H3  Methodological Framework
  H2  Methods
  H3  Data Collection
  H3  Classification Pipeline
  H2  Results
  H3  Effect Size Analysis
  H2  Discussion
  H2  Conclusion
  H2  References

docex list paper.docx comments

Output:

Comments in paper.docx:
  #1  [Research Assistant] Strong framing. Consider whether reviewers might...
  #2  [Research Assistant] Verify: is this the total from the research dataset...
  #31 [Editor Williams] TYPO: The abstract contains "scraped from..."

docex list paper.docx figures

Output:

Figures in paper.docx:
  [1] word/media/image1.png  (5486400 x 3657600 emu)
  [2] word/media/image2.png  (5486400 x 3657600 emu)
  ...

docex list paper.docx revisions

Output:

Tracked changes in paper.docx:
  #17 DEL by Research Assistant: "12,847 records"
  #18 INS by Research Assistant: "12,847 records extracted from the research dataset"
  #21 DEL by Research Assistant: "10.4 days"
  #22 INS by Research Assistant: "10.4 calendar days"
  ...

figure

Insert a figure after a heading or paragraph.

docex figure <file> <position> <image> [--caption <text>] [--width <inches>]

docex figure paper.docx "after:Results" fig03.png --caption "Figure 3. Effect sizes by study." --width 5

Output:

Inserted figure fig03.png after "Results" (5" wide)
Caption: "Figure 3. Effect sizes by study."
Saved paper.docx

table

Insert a table from a JSON data file.

docex table <file> <position> <json-file> [--style <style>] [--caption <text>]

docex table paper.docx "after:Results" data.json --style booktabs --caption "Table 1."

Where data.json contains:

[["Study", "N", "Effect Size"],
 ["Smith 2023", "342", "d = 0.45"],
 ["Lee 2022", "289", "d = 0.38"]]

count

Get word counts broken down by section.

docex count <file>

docex count paper.docx

Output:

Word count for paper.docx:
  Body text:    6,800
  Headings:        45
  Abstract:       250
  Captions:       120
  Footnotes:       85
  ----------------------
  Total:        7,300

doctor

Check document health. Detects corruption, orphaned images, broken relationships, and structural issues.

docex doctor <file>

docex doctor absolute_chaos.docx

Output:

Document health check: absolute_chaos.docx
  [PASS] Valid ZIP structure
  [PASS] document.xml present
  [PASS] All relationships valid
  [PASS] No orphaned media files
  [PASS] No duplicate paragraph IDs
  [WARN] Heading hierarchy: H3 appears without H2 parent

  Result: 5 passed, 1 warning, 0 errors

diff

Compare two documents and produce a new .docx with tracked changes showing what changed.

docex diff <file-a> <file-b> [--output <path>]

docex diff paper.docx paper-v1.docx --output diff.docx

Output:

Comparing paper.docx vs paper-v1.docx
  12 insertions, 8 deletions, 3 replacements
Saved diff.docx

style

Apply a journal formatting preset.

docex style <file> --preset <name>

docex style paper.docx --preset polcomm

Available presets:

Preset	Journal	Font	Margins
`academic`	Generic academic	Times New Roman 12pt	1" all
`polcomm`	Political Communication	Times New Roman 12pt	1" all
`apa7`	APA 7th Edition	Times New Roman 12pt	1" all
`jcmc`	Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication	Times New Roman 12pt	1" all
`joc`	Journal of Communication	Times New Roman 12pt	1" all

verify

Validate a document against journal submission requirements.

docex verify <file> --preset <name>

docex verify paper.docx --preset polcomm

Output:

Verification against polcomm preset:
  [PASS] Word count: 7,300 (limit: 8,000)
  [PASS] Abstract: 250 words (limit: 300)
  [PASS] Font: Times New Roman
  [WARN] Figure 3 resolution: 150 DPI (recommended: 300)
  [FAIL] Margins: left=0.9" (required: 1.0")

  Result: 3 passed, 1 warning, 1 failure

accept / reject

Accept or reject tracked changes.

docex accept <file> [id]

# Accept all tracked changes
docex accept paper.docx

# Accept only change #5
docex accept paper.docx 5

# Reject all changes (revert to original text)
docex reject paper.docx

clean

Create a clean copy with all tracked changes accepted and markup removed.

docex clean <file> [--output <path>]

docex clean paper.docx -o clean.docx

decompile / compile

Convert between .docx and .dex formats.

docex decompile <file> [-o <output>]

# Decompile to stdout
docex decompile paper.docx

# Decompile to file
docex decompile paper.docx -o paper.dex

docex compile <file.dex> [-o <output>]

# Compile .dex back to .docx
docex compile paper.dex -o paper-updated.docx

bold / italic / highlight

Apply formatting from the command line.

docex bold <file> <text>

docex bold paper.docx "significant findings"
docex italic paper.docx "p < 0.05"
docex highlight paper.docx "needs review"

footnote

Add a footnote anchored to text.

docex footnote <file> <anchor> <text>

docex footnote paper.docx "measurement validity" "See appendix B for methodology."

anonymize

Anonymize a document for blind peer review.

docex anonymize <file>

docex anonymize paper.docx

latex / html / markdown

Export to other formats.

docex latex <file> / docex html <file> / docex markdown <file>

docex latex paper.docx > paper.tex
docex html paper.docx > paper.html
docex markdown paper.docx > paper.md

cite

List citation patterns or inject Zotero citations.

docex cite <file> [--list] [--zotero-key <key>]

# List citation patterns
docex cite paper.docx --list

# Inject Zotero citations
docex cite paper.docx --zotero-key API_KEY --zotero-user USER_ID

Global options

Option	Description
`--author <name>`	Author name for tracked changes (default: git user.name)
`--by <name>`	Alias for --author (used with comments)
`--output <path>`	Save to a different file (default: overwrite)
`--untracked`	Disable tracked changes
`--safe <path>`	Wrap save through safe-modify.sh for manuscript protection
`--dry-run`	Preview without saving
`--help`	Show help
`--version`	Show version

CLI Reference

replace

insert

delete

comment

reply

list

figure

table

count

doctor

diff

style

verify

accept / reject

clean

decompile / compile

bold / italic / highlight

footnote

meta

anonymize

latex / html / markdown

cite

Global options