> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.withmethod.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Script cards

> A plain-English card for each script step, checked against the code.

A script card explains one `run` step's script, so that a reader can review it without reading the code. The dashboard shows each card beside its script.

```sh theme={null}
method explain support-triage.method --step route
```

A card has:

* a one-sentence **summary**, and whether the script changes nothing or changes data;
* **effects** found by code analysis, never by a model: the hosts it calls, the declared secrets and other environment variables it reads, the files it reads and writes, and the commands it runs;
* 3 to 8 numbered **steps** in plain English, with line ranges, and the edge cases that the code does not handle.

## How a card is checked

1. **Names and numbers.** Every number, quoted name, and host in the card's text must appear in the code. A failed check gets one retry.
2. **Round trip.** A model writes a program from the card's steps alone. Up to 3 recorded inputs of the step from your local runs go through both programs, with no network access, and the outputs are compared. A script that calls the network is not replayed. `--no-round-trip` skips this check.

A failed check is shown on the card. It never blocks a publish.

## When cards are made

A signed-in run that saves a version starts `method explain` in the background for each script without a card. `method publish` makes the missing cards before it publishes. A card belongs to one script hash: change the script, and the step gets a new card.

`method explain` needs a saved version of the file's current content, and uses your hosted model credit. Without sign-in it makes no card.

See [Observed effects](/guides/observed-effects) for what a script really did in a run.


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