So you want a CLI...

A better CLI framework, made for the ES2015 era.

Visit https://sywac.io for detailed documentation. NOTE! The docs site is still under construction.

• Single package install
• Asynchronous parsing, validation, and command execution
• Type-based argument parsing
• Plug in your own types or override/extend the built-in ones
• Support for simple CLIs or complex nested command trees
• First-class support for positional arguments, with or without commands
• Flexible auto-generated help content
• Support for ANSI styles/colors (we recommend chalk)
• Define styles/colors inline or decorate content with style hooks
• Coherent API
• Parse strings as easily as process.argv
• Supports concurrent parsing, safe for chatbots or other server-side apps

First install sywac from npm:

$ npm install --save sywac

Then create a cli.js file with code similar to this:

#!/usr/bin/env node

const cli = require('sywac')
  .positional('<string>', { paramsDesc: 'A required string argument' })
  .boolean('-b, --bool', { desc: 'A boolean option' })
  .number('-n, --num <number>', { desc: 'A number option' })
  .help('-h, --help')
  .version('-v, --version')
  .showHelpByDefault()
  .outputSettings({ maxWidth: 75 })

module.exports = cli

async function main () {
  const argv = await cli.parseAndExit()
  console.log(JSON.stringify(argv, null, 2))
}

if (require.main === module) main()

Make the cli.js file executable:

$ chmod +x cli.js

And set up cli.js as the "bin" field in package.json:

{
  "name": "example",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "bin": "cli.js"
}

Tip:

You can use npm init sywac to easily set up the above and add sywac to your project.

Then test it out. Without any arguments, it will print the help text.

$ ./cli.js
Usage: cli <string> [options]

Arguments:
  <string>  A required string argument                  [required] [string]

Options:
  -b, --bool          A boolean option                            [boolean]
  -n, --num <number>  A number option                              [number]
  -h, --help          Show help                  [commands: help] [boolean]
  -v, --version       Show version number     [commands: version] [boolean]

Let's try passing some arguments:

$ ./cli.js hello -b -n 42
{
  "_": [],
  "string": "hello",
  "b": true,
  "bool": true,
  "n": 42,
  "num": 42,
  "h": false,
  "help": false,
  "v": false,
  "version": false
}

What happens if we pass flags without a string argument?

$ ./cli.js --bool
Usage: cli <string> [options]

Arguments:
  <string>  A required string argument                  [required] [string]

Options:
  -b, --bool          A boolean option                            [boolean]
  -n, --num <number>  A number option                              [number]
  -h, --help          Show help                  [commands: help] [boolean]
  -v, --version       Show version number     [commands: version] [boolean]

Missing required argument: string

Validation failed and sywac printed the help text with an error message. Let's check the exit code of that last run:

$ echo $?
1

This is a good sign that our CLI will play well with others.

For details on the full API, go to http://sywac.io

MIT