Browse the technical checks built into the SEO CLI

Run this report from the CLI, an MCP client, or application code. Every surface uses the same report definition and returns the same evidence. JSON is the source of truth; Markdown makes it readable without hiding dates, limits, warnings, or skipped work.

What this report helps you decide

Which crawler rule ids and guidance are available?

• An agent needs a valid rule id.
• You want to see which checks exist in a technical category.

Command facts

Report id

crawler-rules

Execution

Local process

Outputs

JSON and Markdown

Example parameters

category

Agent discovery

seo reports describe crawler-rules --json

Interactive prompts

Human CLI commands only

When this report is not the right tool

These cases need a different report, more evidence, or a human decision. Do not force this report to answer a question its data cannot support.

• You need a plain-English explanation and verification steps for one rule. Recommended report: Understand a crawler issue. Run explain crawl issue with the rule id. It adds the rule meaning, why it may matter, practical fix guidance, and a check you can perform after the change.
• You need the URLs currently affected by a rule in a saved crawl. Recommended report: Find URLs affected by a crawl issue. Run affected URLs with the saved crawl and rule id. It returns the observed page instances, counts, limits, and available search evidence rather than the rule definition alone.

Data sources and inputs

• Local crawler rule catalog. Provides the current rule ids, categories, severity, and guidance metadata.
• Optional rule category. Limits the catalog to checks such as metadata, canonicals, or indexability.

What this report checks

• Reads the versioned rule definitions shipped with the installed SEO package.
• Filters by an exact supported category without crawling a site or inventing findings.

How it works

• Returns stable rule ids and compact guidance metadata, optionally filtered by category.

The JSON result keeps dates, thresholds, limits, skipped work, and source completeness beside the finding. Missing, partial, capped, filtered, and complete data remain different states.

Run the report from the CLI

Browse the technical checks built into the crawler. Agents and CI should inspect the live schema before their first run.

seo rules

seo reports describe crawler-rules --json

seo reports run crawler-rules --params '{"category":"metadata"}' --json

Project profiles can fill supported property and analytics inputs for the human-facing commands. The catalog form shown here is explicit by design, so agents and CI jobs do not prompt or guess.

How an MCP agent should use it

Call seo_describe_report first so the agent sees when this report is useful and gets the current input schema. Then callseo_run_report with the validated parameters. Read the status, warnings, source limits, and skipped sections before acting on a finding.

{
  "id": "crawler-rules"
}

{
  "id": "crawler-rules",
  "params": {
    "category": "metadata"
  }
}

Use a follow-up report returned by the result instead of guessing the next tool. The local MCP server and CLI use the same report definition and evidence. Their outer transport envelopes differ.

Use the report in a TypeScript app

Install seo as a project dependency, then call the same report catalog used by the CLI and MCP. executeReportrejects an unknown report id or invalid parameters. Provider and runtime failures come back as structured results withisError set.

npm install seo

import { executeReport } from 'seo/mcp'

const result = await executeReport(
  'crawler-rules',
  {
  "category": "metadata"
},
)

console.log(result)

The TypeScript library guide also covers direct core functions, schema discovery, and the difference betweenexecuteReport and runReport.

What comes back and how to read it

• A compact list of valid rule ids with category, severity, and guidance metadata.
• The identifiers needed to explain a rule or find affected URLs in a saved crawl.
• Choose a rule by its meaning, then inspect evidence from a crawl. Do not treat catalog presence as a site defect.

Start with dataStatus, source details, warnings, and caveats. Then inspect the observed evidence before derived findings or suggested actions.

What this report cannot tell you

• Some rules are observations or heuristics rather than universal search requirements.

What to do next

1. Explain the selected rule.
2. Fetch affected URLs from a saved crawl.

Related reports

• Understand a crawler issue. Turn one crawler rule id into plain-English meaning, practical fixes, impact context, and a repeatable verification step.
• Find URLs affected by a crawl issue. Open the exact URLs behind a crawl finding and turn a summary count into a limited review or fix list.

Browse all reports in Crawling and technical checks.