The SDK records real runs; the evalshift capture command group turns them into golden suite cases that run can score. The two never call each other — the SDK writes capture files, the CLI reads them.

Captures live under <base>/captures/<suite>/ and promoted cases under <base>/suites/<suite>/, where base follows the SDK convention ($EVALSHIFT_DIR, else .evalshift).

## capture list

See what the SDK has recorded: a table of capture id, suite, created-at, tool-call and event counts, and whether each was already promoted. --json emits the same rows plus code_version and input_hash for tooling.

# everything the SDK has recorded (optionally for one suite)
evalshift capture list
evalshift capture list support_agent

# machine-readable (adds code_version + input_hash)
evalshift capture list --json

## capture promote

Turn one capture into a golden case. By default the case id is the capture id (--as renames it), and the recorded tool calls become the expected trace. The command prints the suites: block to paste into evalshift.yaml and the exact run invocation.

evalshift capture promote cap_a1b2c3 --as refund_happy_path

# it writes the golden case and prints exactly how to wire it:
#   suites:
#     support_agent:
#       source: captured
#       path: .evalshift/suites/support_agent/golden.jsonl
#
# then:
evalshift run --suite-name support_agent

### Matching strictness

• +--strict-args — require exact tool-argument matches (default is a looser compare).
• +--names-only — match tool names only; ignore arguments.
• +--tool-count — also pin the expected number of tool calls.
• +--input-var — template-variable name for a bare-string model input (default input).
• +--tag — attach an extra tag (repeatable); --suite restricts the capture search; --force / -f overwrites an existing case.

## capture clean

Prune capture files once you’re done with them. By default it removes only promoted captures (the case already lives in the suite); --all removes every capture for the scope. --yes / -y skips the confirm.

# prune only captures you've already promoted (the default)
evalshift capture clean --promoted

# wipe everything for a suite, promoted or not
evalshift capture clean support_agent --all --yes

## capture diff

Compare two captures’ tool-call traces — which tools fired, with what args, in what order. Useful before promoting to confirm a capture is the run you mean to pin.

# compare two captures' tool-call traces
evalshift capture diff cap_a1b2c3 cap_d4e5f6

## The end-to-end loop

Capture a real run with the SDK, promote it into a captured suite, then run migrations against it like any other suite — verdicts, baselines, and policy gating all apply. Your golden cases now come from production behavior instead of hand-authored JSONL.