Q: A normal component platform will use rpc as component API, then use config files to assemble pieces, or maybe use web-page-based UI. why cli based component platform?
Cost is all in engineering. (it toke me more than 10yrs to realize that, at my early days I was sticking on 'quality').
Since ticat is for engineers, using cli as platform do not compromise much usabilities, but can greatly reduce the cost of writing a component.
By lower the bar(cost) of component writing, small solutions could move (from manually executings and casual scripts) into the platform, that makes a health and strong ecosystem.