detect

ward detect finds the supported project in the selected directory or its nearest parent, and reports its language, build tool, framework, and project root. A project with more than one language also gets a Languages: line that lists them all.

ward detect [-C <dir>]

Options

Option	What it does
-C, --directory <dir>	Run as if Ward were started in <dir>.

What is detected

• Gradle projects are recognized from build.gradle and build.gradle.kts.
• For Maven and Gradle projects, the language comes from the sources, not from the build file. Ward looks for src/main/java and src/main/kotlin in the project and its modules:
  • With Java sources, the language is Java, even when the build script is build.gradle.kts.
  • With only Kotlin sources, the language is Kotlin.
  • With both, the language is Java, and Languages: lists Java and Kotlin.
  • With no sources yet, the language is Java.
• Spring Boot is recognized when the POM references org.springframework.boot.
• TypeScript projects are recognized from tsconfig.json, and JavaScript projects from package.json.

Node package manager

For TypeScript and JavaScript, the first match decides the build tool:

1. The packageManager field of package.json (npm@…, pnpm@…, yarn@… or bun@…). Other values are ignored.
2. A lock file, in this order: bun.lock or bun.lockb (Bun), pnpm-lock.yaml (pnpm), yarn.lock (Yarn), package-lock.json (npm).
3. npm.

The packageManager field wins over a lock file that disagrees with it, because it is what Corepack enforces. Deno is not supported.

Node version

detect prints a Node: line with the target Node major version. The first source that gives a number decides:

1. .nvmrc, such as v20.11.1 → 20. Aliases such as lts/* fall through.
2. .node-version.
3. The lower bound of engines.node in package.json, such as ^18.18.0 || >=20 → 18.
4. 24.

Language:     TypeScript
Build tool:   pnpm
Framework:    None
Node:         22
Project root: /path/to/frontend

A malformed package.json is still detected; the manager then comes from lock files alone.

Modules and aggregators

Build modules belong to their aggregator, up to the Git top-level:

• A directory listed in an enclosing pom.xml <modules>, including profile modules, resolves to that aggregator.
• A Gradle build below an enclosing settings.gradle(.kts) resolves to that build.
• A package matched by the workspaces field of an enclosing package.json (an array, or { "packages": [...] }), or by the packages list of an enclosing pnpm-workspace.yaml, resolves to that workspace root. This covers npm, pnpm, Yarn and Bun workspaces.
• A nested build that no aggregator lists is its own project.

A workspace root is TypeScript when the root or any member has tsconfig.json, and JavaScript otherwise.

Workspace patterns that start with ! are ignored rather than applied, so a package they would exclude is still grouped under the root.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	A supported project was detected.
1	No supported project was detected.
2	Ward could not run.