Thecorporation Form And Operate

npx corp CLI Skill

The npx corp CLI is the command-line interface for TheCorporation platform — a corporate governance system built by agents, for agents. It manages the full lifecycle of business entities: formation, governance, cap tables, finance, documents, tax, compliance, agents, and work items.

Quick Start

Setup

npx corp setup

Choose a hosting mode:

• Local (your machine) — no server needed. Data stored in ~/.corp/data. Each command invokes the Rust binary directly (~6ms).
• TheCorporation cloud — hosted service, authenticates via magic link.
• Self-hosted server — point to your own API server URL.

Local mode (recommended for development)

npx corp setup              # choose "Local (your machine)"
npx corp status             # verify — all local, no network

Cloud mode

npx corp setup              # choose "TheCorporation cloud"
# Follow the magic link auth flow

Advanced: Local server mode

For development with a persistent HTTP server:

npx corp serve --port 8020
npx corp config set api_url http://localhost:8020 --force

Verify Context

npx corp context

Shows active workspace, user, entity, and hosting mode.

Reference Resolution

The CLI supports flexible reference formats across all commands:

Use npx corp resolve <kind> <ref> to test resolution. Use npx corp find <kind> <query> to list matches.

Entity Formation

One-Shot Formation (Recommended for Agents)

Form an entity in a single command using key=value member syntax:

npx corp form \
  --type c_corp \
  --name "Acme Inc" \
  --jurisdiction US-DE \
  --member "name=Jane Doe,email=jane@acme.com,role=director,officer_title=ceo,is_incorporator=true,address=123 Main St|Dover|DE|19901" \
  --member "name=John Doe,email=john@acme.com,role=director,officer_title=cto,address=456 Oak Ave|Dover|DE|19901" \
  --json

One-shot flags:

• --type <type> — Entity type (see below)
• --name <name> — Legal name of the entity
• --jurisdiction <jurisdiction> — e.g. US-DE, US-WY
• --member <spec> — Founder (repeatable); key=value format with keys: name, email, role (director|officer|manager|member|chair), officer_title (ceo|cfo|cto|coo|secretary|treasurer|president|vp|other), is_incorporator (true|false), address (street|city|state|zip), pct (ownership %), shares (shares purchased)
• --address <address> — Company address as street,city,state,zip
• --fiscal-year-end <date> — Fiscal year end (MM-DD, default "12-31")
• --s-corp — Elect S-Corp status
• --transfer-restrictions — Enable transfer restrictions
• --rofr — Enable right of first refusal

Important: Member addresses use pipe | as separator (street|city|state|zip), NOT commas.

Staged Formation

For more control, use the staged flow:

1. Create — npx corp form create --type c_corp --name "Acme Inc" --jurisdiction US-DE --json
2. Add Founders — npx corp form add-founder @last --name "Jane Doe" --email jane@acme.com --role director --pct 100 --officer-title ceo --incorporator --address "123 Main St,Dover,DE,19901" --json
3. Finalize — npx corp form finalize @last --board-size 1 --company-address "123 Main St,Dover,DE,19901" --json
4. Activate — npx corp form activate @last --json

The activate step transitions from documents_generated to active status by auto-signing formation documents.

Staged add-founder flags:

• --name (required), --email (required), --role (required: director|officer|manager|member|chair), --pct (required: ownership %)
• --officer-title <title> (choices: ceo, cfo, cto, coo, secretary, treasurer, president, vp, other)
• --incorporator (boolean flag — mark as sole incorporator)
• --address <address> (as street,city,state,zip)

Staged finalize flags:

• --board-size <n>, --authorized-shares <n>, --par-value <value>
• --company-address, --incorporator-name, --incorporator-address
• --principal-name (LLC manager name)

Entity Types

c_corp, llc, lp, llp, gp, sole_prop, cooperative, nonprofit

Setting Active Entity

Most commands require an active entity context:

npx corp config set active_entity_id <entity-ref>

Governance

Governance operates through bodies (e.g., Board of Directors), seats, meetings, and resolutions.

Full Meeting Lifecycle

create-body → add-seat → convene (with --agenda) → notice → open (--present-seat) → vote → resolve → finalize-item → adjourn

1. Create a governance body

   npx corp governance create-body --name "Board of Directors" --body-type board_of_directors --json

   Body types: board_of_directors, llc_member_vote

2. Add seats — <body-ref> is a positional argument

   npx corp governance add-seat @last --holder <contact-ref> --role member --json

   Roles: chair, member, officer, observer

3. Convene a meeting — --type and --body are required

   npx corp governance convene --body @last --type board_meeting --title "Board Meeting Q1" --date 2026-04-01 --agenda "Approve equity grant" --agenda "Review financials" --json

   Meeting types: board_meeting, shareholder_meeting, member_meeting, written_consent

   Agenda items are added via repeatable --agenda flags on convene. There is no separate agenda-items add command.

4. List agenda items — npx corp governance agenda-items <meeting-ref> --json

5. Send notice — npx corp governance notice <meeting-ref> --json

6. Open meeting with present seats

   npx corp governance open <meeting-ref> --present-seat <seat-ref> --json

   Repeat --present-seat for each seat present.

7. Vote on agenda item

   npx corp governance vote <meeting-ref> <item-ref> --voter <contact-ref> --vote for --json

   Vote values: for, against, abstain, recusal

8. Compute resolution — requires both <meeting-ref> and <item-ref> as positional args

   npx corp governance resolve <meeting-ref> <item-ref> --text "RESOLVED: The board approves the equity grant" --json

9. Finalize item

   npx corp governance finalize-item <meeting-ref> <item-ref> --status voted --json

   Status choices: discussed, voted, tabled, withdrawn

10. Adjourn — npx corp governance adjourn <meeting-ref> --json

Written Consent (Alternative to Meetings)

For board approvals without a formal meeting:

npx corp governance written-consent --body <body-ref> --title "Approve Equity Grant" --description "Approve 10000 shares to Jane Doe" --json

Written consent produces a meeting_id and resolution that can be used for downstream operations like equity issuance. List the agenda items and vote to complete:

npx corp governance agenda-items @last
npx corp governance vote @last <item-ref> --voter <contact-ref> --vote for --json

Cap Table

Instruments

Create equity instruments before issuing shares:

npx corp cap-table create-instrument --kind common_equity --symbol COMMON --authorized-units 10000000 --issue-price-cents 1 --json

Instrument kinds: common_equity, preferred_equity, membership_unit, option_grant, safe

Flags:

• --kind <kind> (required) — instrument kind
• --symbol <symbol> (required) — e.g. COMMON, SERIES-A, OPTION-PLAN
• --authorized-units <n> — total authorized shares/units
• --issue-price-cents <n> — issue price in cents
• --issuer-legal-entity-id <ref> — auto-resolved if omitted
• --terms-json <json> — JSON object of additional terms

Issuing Equity

C-Corps require board approval (a resolution) before issuing equity:

npx corp cap-table issue-equity --grant-type common --shares 100000 --recipient "Jane Doe" --meeting-id <meeting-ref> --resolution-id <resolution-ref> --json

Flags:

• --grant-type <type> (required) — common, preferred, membership_unit, stock_option, iso, nso, rsa
• --shares <n> (required) — number of shares
• --recipient <name> (required) — recipient name (not an ID)
• --email <email> — recipient email (auto-creates contact if needed)
• --instrument-id <ref> — instrument reference (auto-resolved by grant type if omitted)
• --meeting-id <ref> — board meeting reference (required for board-governed entities)
• --resolution-id <ref> — board resolution reference (required for board-governed entities)

SAFEs

npx corp cap-table issue-safe --investor "Jane Investor" --amount 5000000 --valuation-cap 1000000000 --json

Important: --amount and --valuation-cap are in cents (e.g., 5000000 = $50,000).

Flags:

• --investor <name> (required) — investor name
• --amount <n> (required) — principal amount in cents
• --valuation-cap <n> (required) — valuation cap in cents
• --safe-type <type> — SAFE type (default: post_money)
• --meeting-id <ref> — board meeting reference
• --resolution-id <ref> — board resolution reference

409A Valuations

Three-step process:

1. Create valuation

   npx corp cap-table create-valuation --type four_oh_nine_a --date 2026-03-15 --methodology market --enterprise-value 120000000 --json

   Types: four_oh_nine_a, fair_market_value Methodologies: income, market, asset, backsolve, hybrid

2. Submit for approval — npx corp cap-table submit-valuation <valuation-ref> --json

3. Approve (after board resolution) — npx corp cap-table approve-valuation <valuation-ref> --resolution-id <resolution-ref> --json

Then check: npx corp cap-table 409a --json