The writer command

Run dispat writer <manifest>... to apply --set-version, --set, and --link to each named manifest. An edit ends up applied, skipped, or missing. If you provide a path that no writer covers, dispat always exits 1.

A skipped edit means the version defers to something outside the file. This is normal and never fails the command. A missing edit means the manifest does not declare that dependency, which fails only if you pass --strict.

The dispat scanner, dispat writer, and dispat replacer commands expose the manifest libraries directly. dispat scanner prints what a folder's manifests declare. dispat writer edits a declaration in place while preserving the file's formatting, and dispat replacer replaces literal text in any file at all.

These commands need no config file, no git repository, and no release plan. They work on any checkout. Positional paths resolve against --root.

Pass --log-format json to swap each command's listing for one event per file.

Read Manifest tools for the full guide, worked examples, and the format list.

Flags

These options apply alongside the global flags:

Flag	Default	Effect
--set-version		writer and autowriter: rewrite the manifest's own version field. Pass {version} to autowriter to write the covered package's planned version, which touches only the package's root manifests.
--set-build		writer only: write the manifest's build counter where its format keeps one, such as CFBundleVersion, android:versionCode, CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION, Gradle's versionCode, a pubspec version's + suffix, Unity's AndroidBundleVersionCode and every platform entry under buildNumber, Godot's version/code in every export preset, an Unreal plugin's Version, and the Android StoreVersion. dispat will not create a counter the file does not declare, except for the pubspec suffix because it is part of the version scalar. Every integer counter refuses a non-integer before the file is opened.
--set		writer and autowriter: set one dependency's declared range using [kind:]name=range. You can repeat this flag. Pass {version} in the range to autowriter to use the planned version of the package the edit names.
--link		writer and autowriter: point a dependency at a local folder using name=path. Pass an empty path to remove the redirect. You can repeat this flag.
--drop-links		writer only: remove every local-link directive the named manifests carry. You do not need to provide the dependencies' names. You cannot combine this with --link.
--strict		Turn a tolerated finding into a failure. For scanner, writer, and replacer, this fails on a manifest that failed to parse, an edit the manifest does not declare, or a --replace that matched nothing.