diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli-program.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli-program.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..79b0d23a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli-program.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+import type { Command } from '@commander-js/extra-typings';
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { buildKtxProgram } from './cli-program.js';
+import type { KtxCliIo, KtxCliPackageInfo } from './cli-runtime.js';
+
+function stubIo(): KtxCliIo {
+  return {
+    stdout: { isTTY: false, columns: 80, write: () => {} },
+    stderr: { write: () => {} },
+  };
+}
+
+function stubPackageInfo(): KtxCliPackageInfo {
+  return { name: '@ktx/cli', version: '0.0.0-test', contextPackageName: '@ktx/context' };
+}
+
+describe('buildKtxProgram', () => {
+  it('returns a Command named "ktx" with all registered top-level subcommands', () => {
+    const program: Command = buildKtxProgram({
+      io: stubIo(),
+      deps: {},
+      packageInfo: stubPackageInfo(),
+      runInit: async () => 0,
+    });
+
+    expect(program.name()).toBe('ktx');
+    const topLevel = program.commands.map((command) => command.name()).sort();
+    for (const expected of ['setup', 'connection', 'ingest', 'sl', 'dev']) {
+      expect(topLevel).toContain(expected);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('does not parse argv or invoke action handlers', () => {
+    let wrote = '';
+    const io: KtxCliIo = {
+      stdout: {
+        isTTY: false,
+        columns: 80,
+        write: (chunk) => {
+          wrote += chunk;
+        },
+      },
+      stderr: {
+        write: (chunk) => {
+          wrote += chunk;
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    buildKtxProgram({ io, deps: {}, packageInfo: stubPackageInfo(), runInit: async () => 0 });
+
+    expect(wrote).toBe('');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli-program.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli-program.ts
index 408f3620..e2091bef 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cli-program.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli-program.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@ interface KtxCommanderProgramOptions {
   runInit: (args: { projectDir: string; projectName?: string; force: boolean }, io: KtxCliIo) => Promise<number>;
 }
 
+export interface BuildKtxProgramOptions {
+  io: KtxCliIo;
+  deps: KtxCliDeps;
+  packageInfo: KtxCliPackageInfo;
+  runInit: (args: { projectDir: string; projectName?: string; force: boolean }, io: KtxCliIo) => Promise<number>;
+  setExitCode?: (code: number) => void;
+}
+
 type CommanderExitLike = { exitCode: number; code: string; message: string };
 
 interface KtxGlobalOptionValues {
@@ -288,6 +296,35 @@ async function runBareInteractiveCommand(
   return 0;
 }
 
+export function buildKtxProgram(options: BuildKtxProgramOptions): Command {
+  const program = createBaseProgram(options.packageInfo, options.io);
+  program.hook('preAction', (_thisCommand, actionCommand) => {
+    writeProjectDir(options.io, actionCommand as CommandPathNode);
+  });
+
+  const context: KtxCliCommandContext = {
+    io: options.io,
+    deps: options.deps,
+    packageInfo: options.packageInfo,
+    setExitCode: options.setExitCode ?? (() => {}),
+    runInit: options.runInit,
+    writeDebug: (command: string, commandContext: CommandWithGlobalOptions) => {
+      writeDebug(options.io, commandContext, command);
+    },
+  };
+
+  registerSetupCommands(program, context);
+  registerConnectionCommands(program, context);
+  registerPublicIngestCommands(program, context);
+  registerWikiCommands(program, context);
+  registerSlCommands(program, context);
+  registerStatusCommands(program, context);
+  registerAgentCommands(program, context);
+  registerDevCommands(program, context);
+
+  return program;
+}
+
 export async function runCommanderKtxCli(
   argv: string[],
   io: KtxCliIo,
@@ -297,11 +334,16 @@ export async function runCommanderKtxCli(
 ): Promise<number> {
   profileMark('commander:entry');
   let exitCode = 0;
-  const program = createBaseProgram(info, io);
-  program.hook('preAction', (_thisCommand, actionCommand) => {
-    writeProjectDir(io, actionCommand as CommandPathNode);
+  const program = buildKtxProgram({
+    io,
+    deps,
+    packageInfo: info,
+    runInit: options.runInit,
+    setExitCode: (code: number) => {
+      exitCode = code;
+    },
   });
-  profileMark('commander:base-program');
+  profileMark('commander:program-built');
   const context: KtxCliCommandContext = {
     io,
     deps,
@@ -315,30 +357,6 @@ export async function runCommanderKtxCli(
     },
   };
 
-  registerSetupCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-setup');
-
-  registerConnectionCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-connection');
-
-  registerPublicIngestCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-public-ingest');
-
-  registerWikiCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-wiki');
-
-  registerSlCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-sl');
-
-  registerStatusCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-status');
-
-  registerAgentCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-agent');
-
-  registerDevCommands(program, context);
-  profileMark('commander:register-dev');
-
   if (argv.length === 0) {
     if (io.stdout.isTTY === true) {
       try {