@author.io/shell

This is a super-lightweight framework for building text-based programs, like CLI applications. See the installation guide to jumpstart your CLI.

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This library is now supported by this Chrome CLI Devtools Extension:

You can see the library in use (in browsers and Node.js) in this OpenJS World 2020 talk (The Benefits of a "CLI First" Development Strategy).

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Uses

There are two types of text-based apps:

1. Single Purpose (a command) These are tools which may have multiple configuration options, but ultimately only do one thing. Examples include node-tap, mocha, standard, prettier, etc.

   For example, node-tap can be run on a file, using syntax like tap [options] [<files>]. Ultimately, this utility serves one purpose. It just runs a configured tap process.
   

2. Multipurpose (a shell for multiple commands) Other tools do more than configure a script. Consider npm, which has several subcommands (like install, uninstall, info, etc). Subcommands often behave like their own single purpose tool, with their own unique flags, and even subcommands of their own. Docker is a good example of this, which has an entire series of management subcommands.

Is this "framework" overkill?

tl;dr Use this library to create multipurpose tools. Use @author.io/arg to create single purpose tools.

Detailed Explanation

This framework was designed to support multipurpose CLI tools. At the core, it provides a clean, easily-understood, repeatable pattern for building maintainable multipurpose CLI applications.

Multipurpose tools require a layer of organizational overhead to help isolate different commands and features. This overhead is unnecessary in single purpose tools. Single purpose tools just need argument parsing, which the @author.io/arg does very well.

@author.io/arg is embedded in this framework, making @author.io/shell capable of creating single purpose tools, but it's merely unnecessary overhead for single purpose commands.

Think about how your tooling evolves...

Sometimes single purpose tools grow into multipurpose tools over time. Tools which start out using the @author.io/arg library can be transitioned into multipurpose tools using @author.io/shell (with reasonable ease). After all, they use the same code, just nicely separated by purpose.

Differentiating Features

1. Supports middleware (express-style).
2. Supports postware (middleware that runs after a command).
3. **Customizable help/usage screens.
4. Produces introspectable JSON. Load a JSON config, have a working CLI.
5. Reusable plugin system.
6. Dynamically add/remove commands.
7. Track command execution history.
8. Define universal flags once, reuse in all commands.

Also has better source & distribution code

1. Cross-runtime (browser, node, deno)
2. Separation of Concerns: Arg parsing and text formatting are separate microlibs.
3. Modern ES Module syntax
4. 40+ unit tests

Basic Examples

See the Installation Guide when you're ready to get started.

There is a complete working example of a CLI app (with a mini tutorial) in the examples directory.

This example imports the library for Node. Simply swap the Node import for the appropriate browser import if you're building a web utility. Everything else is the same for both Node and browser environments.

import { Shell, Command } from '@author.io/shell'

// Define a command
const ListCommand = new Command({
  name: 'list',
  description: 'List the contents of the directory.',
  disableHelp: false, // Set to true to turn off default help messages for the entire shell (you can still provide your own). Defaults to false.
  // arguments are listed after the command in the default help screen. Ex: "dir list path"
  arguments: 'path', // Can be space/comma/tab/semicolon delimited or an array.
  alias: 'ls',
  // Any flag parsing options from the @author.io/arg library can be configured here.
  // See https://github.com/author/arg#configuration-methods for a list.
  flags: {
    long: {
      alias: 'l',
      description: 'Long format'.
      type: 'boolean',
      default: false
    },
    rootDir: {
      description: 'The root directory to list.',
      aliases: ['input', 'in', 'src'],
      single: true,
      // validate: RegExp/Function (see github.com/author/arg)
    }
  },
  handler (metadata, callback) {
    // ... this is where your command actually does something ...

    // Data comes from @author.io/arg lib. It looks like:
    // {
    //   command: <Command>,
    //   input: 'whatever user typed after "command"',
    //   flags: {
    //     recognized: {},
    //     unrecognized: [
    //       'whatever',
    //       'user',
    //       'typed'
    //     ]
    //   },
    //   valid: false,
    //   violations: [],
    //   flag (name) { return String },
    //   data (getter)
    // }
    console.log(metadata)

    // A single flag's value can be retrieved with this helper method.
    console.log(metadata.flag('long'))

    // Any unrecognized flags can be retrieved by index number (0-based)
    console.log(metadata.flag(0)) // The first unrecognized flag... returns null if it doesn't exist

    // Execution callbacks are optional. If a callback is passed from the
    // execution context to this handler, it will run after the command
    // has finished processing
    // (kind of like "next" in Express).
    // Promises are also supported.
    callback && callback()
  }
})

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'myapp',
  version: '1.0.0',
  description: 'My demo app.',
  // This middleware runs before all command handlers.
  use: [
    (meta, next) => { ...; next() }
  ],
  // Trailers are like "post-middleware" that run after command handlers.
  trailer: [
    (meta, next) => { ...; next() }
    (meta, next) => { console.log('All done!') }
  ],
  commands: [
    // These can be instances of Command...
    list,

    // or just the configuration of a Command
    {
      name: 'find',
      description: 'Search metadoc for all the things.',
      alias: 'search',
      flags: {
        x: {
          type: 'string',
          required: true
        }
      },
      handler: (data, cb) => {
        console.log(data)
        console.log(`Mirroring input: ${data.input}`)

        cb && cb()
      }
      // Subcommands are supported
      // , commands: [...]
    }
  ]
})

// Run a command
shell.exec('find "some query"')

// Run a command using a promise.
shell.exec('find "some query"').then(() => console.log('Done!))

// Run a command using a callback (the callback is passed to the command's handler function)
shell.exec('find "some query"', () => console.log('Handled!'))

// Run a command, pass a callback to the handler, and use a promise to determine when everything is done.
shell.exec('find "some query"', () => console.log('Handled!')).then(() => console.log('Done!))

// Output the shell's default messages
console.log(shell.help)
console.log(shell.usage)
console.log(shell.description)

Custom Handlers

Each command has a handler function, which is responsible for doing something. This command receives a reference to the parsed flags.

{
  command: <Command>,
  input: 'Raw string of flags/arguments passed to the command',
  flags: {
    recognized: {},
    unrecognized: [
      'whatever',
      'user',
      'typed'
    ]
  },
  flag (name) { return <Value> },
  valid: false,
  violations: []
}

• command is the command name.
• input is the string typed in after the command (flags)
• flags contains the parsed flags from the @author.io/arg library.
• flag() is a special method for retrieving the value of any flag (recognized or unrecognized). See below.
• valid indicates whether the input conforms to the parsing rules.
• violations is an array of strings, where each string represents a violation of the parsing rules.
• data (getter) returns a key/value object with all of the known flags, as well as an attempt to map any unrecognized flags with known argument names. (See basic example for argument example)

Understanding flag()

The flag() method is a shortcut to help developers create more maintainable and understandable code. Consider the following example that does not use the flag method:

const cmd = new Command({
  name: 'demo',
  flags: {
    a: { type: String },
    b: { type: String }
  },
  handler: metadata => {
    console.log(`A is "${metadata.flags.recognized.a}"`)
    console.log(`B is "${metadata.flags.recognized.b}"`)
  }
})

Compare the example above to this cleaner version:

const cmd = new Command({
  name: 'demo',
  flags: {
    a: { type: String },
    b: { type: String }
  },
  handler: metadata => {
    console.log(`A is "${metadata.flag('a')}"`) // <-- Here
    console.log(`B is "${metadata.flag('b')}"`) // <-- and here
  }
})

While the differences aren't extreme, it abstracts the need to know whether a flag is recognized or not (or even exists). If a flag() is executed for a non-existant flag, it will return null.

Understanding data

The `data` attribute supplied to handlers in the metadata argument contains the values for known flags, and _**attempts to map unknown arguments** to configured argument names_.

For example,

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'account',
  commands: [{
    name: 'create',
    arguments: 'email displayName',
    handler (meta) {
      console.log(meta.data)
    }
  }]
})

shell.exec('create [email protected] "John Doe" test1 test2')

Output:

{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "displayName": "John Doe",
  "unknown1": "test1",
  "unknown2": "test2
}

If there is a name conflict, the output will contain an array of values. For example:

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'account',
  commands: [{
    name: 'create',
    arguments: 'email displayName',
    flags: {
      email: {
        alias: 'e'
      }
    },
    handler (meta) {
      console.log(meta.data)
    }
  }]
})

shell.exec('create [email protected] -e [email protected]')

Output:

{
  "email": ["[email protected]", "[email protected]"],
  "displayName": "John Doe",
}

Notice the values from the known flags are first.

Plugins

Plugins expose functions, objects, and primitives to shell handlers.

Example:

Consider an example where information is retrieved from a remote API. To do this, an HTTP request library may be necessary to make the request and parse the results. In this example, the axios library is defined as a plugin. The plugin is accessible in the metadata passed to each handler, as shown below.

Why would you do this?

Remember, the shell library can produce JSON (See the Introspection/Metadata Generation section). JSON is a string format for storing data. The output will contain a stringified version of all the handler functions. This can be used as the configuration for another instance of a shell. In other words, you can maintain a runtime-agnostic configuration. You could use _mostly_ the same configuration for the browser, Node, Deno, Vert.x, or another JavaScript runtime. However; the modules/packages like the HTTP request module may or may not work in each runtime.

Plugins allow developers to write handlers that are completely "self contained". It is then possible to modify the plugin configuration for each runtime without modifying every handler in the shell.

import axios from 'axios'

const sh = new Shell({
  name: 'info',
  plugins: {
    httprequest: axios // replace this with any compatible library
  },
  commands: [{
    name: 'person',
    flags: {
      name: {
        description: 'Name of the person you want info about.',
        required: true
      }
    },
    handler (meta) {
      meta.plugins.httprequest({
        method: 'get',
        url: `http://api.com/person/${meta.flag('name')}`
      }).then(console.log).catch(console.error)
    }
  }, {
    name: 'group',
    flags: {
      name: {
        description: 'Name of the group you want info about.',
        required: true
      }
    },
    handler (meta) {
      meta.plugins.httprequest({
        method: 'get',
        url: `http://api.com/group/${meta.flag('name')}`
      }).then(console.log).catch(console.error)
    }
  }]
})

Commands will inherit plugins from the shell and any parent commands. It is possible to "override" a plugin in any specific command.

Override Example

const sh = new Shell({
  name: 'test',
  plugins: {
    test: value => {
      return value + 1
    }
  },
  commands: [{
    name: 'cmd',
    plugins: {
      test: value => {
        return value + 10
      }
    },
    handler(meta) {
      console.log(meta.test(1)) // Outputs 11
    }
  }]
})

Universal Flags

Common flags are automatically applied to multiple commands.

Sometimes a CLI app has multiple commands/subcommands that need the same flag associated with each command/subcommand. For example, if a --note flag were needed on every command, it would be a pain to copy/paste the config into every single command. Common flags resolve this by automatically applying to all commands from the point where the common flag is configured (i.e. the point where inheritance/nesting begins).

Apply a common flag to ALL commands

To include the same flag on all commands, add a common flag to the shell.

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'mycli',
  commmonflags: {
    note: {
      alias: 'n',
      description: 'Save a note about the operation.'
    }
  },
  commands: [{
    name: 'create',
    flag: {
      writable: {
        alias: 'w',
        description: 'Make it writable.'
      }
    },
    ...
  }, {
    name: 'read',
    ...
  }]
})

shell.exec('create --help')
shell.exec('read --help')

create output:

mycli create

Flags:
  note      [-n]          Save a note about the operation.
  writable  [-w]          Make it writable.

read` output:

mycli read

Flags:
  note      [-n]          Save a note about the operation.

Apply a common flag to a specific command/subcommands

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'mycli',
  commands: [{
    name: 'create',
    commmonflags: {
      note: {
        alias: 'n',
        description: 'Save a note about the operation.'
      }
    },
    flag: {
      writable: {
        alias: 'w',
        description: 'Make it writable.'
      }
    },
    commands: [...]
    ...
  }, {
    name: 'read',
    description: 'Read a directory.',
    ...
  }]
})

shell.exec('create --help')
shell.exec('read --help')

create output:

mycli create

Flags:
  note      [-n]          Save a note about the operation.
  writable  [-w]          Make it writable.

read output:

mycli read

  Read a directory.

Filtering Universal Flags

Universal/common flags accept a special attribute named ignore, which will prevent the flags from being applied to specific commands. This should be used sparingly.

Cherry-picking example

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'mycli',
  commmonflags: {
    ignore: 'info', // This can also be an array of string. Fully qualified subcommands will also be respected.
    note: {
      alias: 'n',
      description: 'Save a note about the operation.'
    }
  },
  commands: [{
    name: 'create',
    handler () {}
  }, {
    name: 'read',
    handler () {}
  }, {
    name: 'update',
    handler () {}
  }, {
    name: 'delete',
    handler () {}
  }, {
    name: 'info',
    handler () {}
  }]
})

Any command, except info, will accepts/parse the note flag.

Middleware

When a command is called, it's handler function is executed. Sometimes it is desirable to pre-process one or more commands. The shell middleware feature supports "global" middleware and "assigned" middleware.

Global Middleware

This middleware is applied to all handlers, unilaterally. It is useful for catching syntax errors in commands, preprocessing data, and anything else you may want to do before the actual handler is executed.

For example, the following middleware checks the input to determine if all of the appropriate flags have been set. If not, the violations are displayed and the handler is never run. If everything is correct, the next() method will continue processing.

shell.use(function (metadata, next) {
  if (!metadata.valid) {
    metadata.violations.forEach(violation => console.log(violation))
  } else {
    next()
  }
})

No matter which command the user inputs, the global middleware methods are executed.

Assigned Middleware

This middleware is assigned to one or more commands. For example:

shell.useWith('demo', function (metadata, next) {
  if (metadata.flag('a') === null) {
    console.log('No "a" flag specified. This may slow down processing.')
  }

  next()
})

The code above would only run when the user inputs the demo command (or any demo subcommand).

Command-Specific Assignments

It is possible to assign middleware to more than one command at a time, and it is possible to target subcommands. For example:

shell.useWith(['demo', 'command subcommand'], function (metadata, next) {
  if (metadata.flag('a') === null) {
    console.log('I hope you know what you are doing!')
  }

  next()
})

Notice the array as the first argument of the useWith method. This middleware would be assigned to demo command, all demo subcommands, the subcommand of command, and all subcommands of subcommand. If this sounds confusing, just know that middleware is applied to commands, including nested commands.

Assigned middleware can also be applied directly to a Command class. For example,

const cmd = new Command({
  name: 'demo',
  flags: {
    a: { type: String },
    b: { type: String }
  },
  handler: metadata => {
    console.log(metadata)
  }
})

cmd.use(function (metadata, next) {
  console.log(`this middleware is specific to the "${cmd.name}" command`)
  next()
})

Command-Exclusion Assignments

Sometimes middleware needs to be applied to all but a few commands. The useExcept method supports these needs. It is basically the opposite of useWith. Middleware is applied to all commands/subcommands except those specified.

For example:

const shell = new Shell({
  ...,
  commands: [{
    name: 'add',
    handler (meta) {
      ...
    }
  }, {
    name: 'subtract',
    handler (meta) {
      ...
    }
  }, {
    name: 'info',
    handler (meta) {
      ...
    }
  }]
})

shell.useExcept(['info], function (meta, next) {
  console.log(`this middleware is only applied to some math commands`)
  next()
})

In this example, the console statement would be displayed for all commands except the info command (and any info subcommands).

Built-in "Middleware"

Displaying help and version information is built-in (overridable).

Help

Appending --help to anything will display the help content for the shell/command/subcommand. This will respect any custom usage/help configurations that may be defined.

Shell Version

A version command is available on the shell. For example:

$ cmd version
1.0.0

The following common flag variations map to the version command, producing the same output:

$ cmd --version
1.0.0

$ cmd -v
1.0.0

This can be overridden by creating a command called version, the same way any other command is created.

const v = new Command({
  name: 'version',
  handler (meta) {
    console.log(this.shell.version)
  }
})

shell.add(v)

Middleware Libraries

One development goal of this framework is to remain as lightweight and unopinionated as possible. Another is to be as simple to use as possible. These two goals often conflict with each other (the more features you add, the heavier it becomes). In an attempt to find a comfortable balance, some additional middleware libraries are available for those who want a little extra functionality.

1. @author.io/shell-middleware
2. Submit a PR to add yours here.

Trailers

(Postware/Afterware)

Trailers operate just like middleware, but they execute after the command handler is executed.

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'mycli',
  trailer: [
    function () { console.log('Done!' ) }
  ],
  command: [{
    name: 'dir',
    handler () {
      console.log('ls -l')
    },
    // Subcommands
    commands: [{
      name: 'perm',
      description: 'Permissions',
      handler () {
        console.log('Display permissions for a directory.')
      }
    }]
  }]
})

// Execute the "dir" command
shell.exec('dir')

// Execute the "perm" subcommand
shell.exec('dir perm')

dir command output:

ls -l
Done!

dir perm subcommand output:

Display permissions for a directory.
Done!

Customized Help/Usage Messages

Customizing Flag Appearance:

The Shell and Command classes can both accept several boolean attributes to customize the description of each flag within a command. Each of these is true by default.

1. describeDefault: Display the default flag value.
2. describeOptions: List the valid options for a flag.
3. describeMultipleValues: Appends Can be used multiple times. to the flag description
4. describeRequired: Prepends Required. to the flag description whenever a flag is required.

Example

const c = new Command({
  name: '...',
  flags: {
    name: {
      alias: 'nm',
      required: true,
      default: 'Rad Dev',
      allowMultipleValues: true,
      options: ['Mr Awesome', 'Mrs Awesome', 'Rad Dev'],
      description: 'Specify a name.'
    }
  }
})

The help message for this flag would look like:

Flags:
  -name       ['nm']          Required. Specify a name. Options: Mr
                              Awesome, Mrs Awesome, Rad Dev. Can be
                              used multiple times. (Default Rad Dev)

Customizing the Entire Message:

This library uses a vanilla dependency (i.e. no-subdependencies) called @author.io/table to format the usage and help messages of the shell. The Table library can be used to create your own custom screens, though most users will likely want to stick with the defaults. If you want to customize messages, the following example can be used as a starting point. The configuration options for the table can be found in the README of its repository.

import { Shell, Command, Table } from '@author.io/shell'

const shell = new Shell(...)
shell.usage = '...'
shell.help = () => {
  const rows = [
    ['Command', 'Alias Names'],
    ['...', '...']
  ]

  const table = new Table(rows)

  return shell.usage + '\n' + table.output
}

The usage and/or help attributes of an individual Command can also be set:

import { Shell, Command, Table } from '@author.io/shell'

const cmd = new Command(...)
cmd.usage = '...'
cmd.help = () => {
  const rows = [
    ['Flags', 'Alias Names'],
    ['...', '...']
  ]

  const table = new Table(rows)

  return cmd.usage + '\n' + table.output
}

There is also a Formatter class that helps combine usage/help messages internally. This class is exposed for those who want to dig into the inner workings, but it should be considered as more of an example than a supported feature. Since it is an internal class, it may change without warning (though we'll try to keep the methods consistent across releases).

Introspection/Metadata Generation

A JSON metadoc can be produced from the shell:

console.log(shell.data)

Simple CLI utilities can also be loaded entirely from a JSON file by passing the object into the shell constructor as the only argument. The limitation is no imports or hoisted variables/methods will be recognized in a shell which is loaded this way.

Autocompletion/Input Hints

This library can use a command hinting feature, i.e. a shell hint() method to return suggestions/hints about a partial command. This feature was part of the library through the v1.5.x release lifecycle. In v.1.6.0+, this feature is no longer a part of the core library. It is now available as the author/shell-hints plugin.

Consider the following shell:

import HintPlugin from 'https://cdn.pika.dev/@author.io/browser-shell-hints'

const shell = new Shell({
  name: 'mycli',
  command: [{
    name: 'dir',
    handler () {
      console.log('ls -l')
    },
    // Subcommands
    commands: [{
      name: 'perm',
      description: 'Permissions',
      handler () {
        console.log('Display permissions for a directory.')
      }
    }, {
      name: 'payload',
      description: 'Payload',
      handler () {
        console.log('Display payload/footprint for a directory.')
      }
    }]
  }]
})

HintPlugin.apply(shell) // <-- Adds the hint method.

// Help us figure out what we can do!
console.log(shell.hint('dir p'))

Output:

{
  commands: ['perm', 'payload'],
  flags: []
}

The hint matches "dir permission" and "dir payload", but does not match any flags.

If no options/hints are available, null is returned.

While this add-on provides input hints that could be used for suggestions/completions, it does not generate autocompletion files for shells like bash, zsh, fish, powershell, etc.

There are many variations of autocompletion for different shells, which are not available in browsers (see our Devtools extension for browser completion).

If you wish to generate your own autocompletion capabilities, use the shell.data attribute to retrieve data for the shell (see prior section). For terminals, consider using the shell metadata with a module like omlette to produce autocompletion for your favorite terminal app. For browser-based CLI apps, consider using our devtools extension for an autocompletion experience.

Installation

Node.js

Modern (ES Modules)

npm install @author.io/shell --save

Please note, you'll need a verison of Node that supports ES Modules. In Node 12, this feature is behind the --experimental-modules flag. It is available in Node 13+ without a flag, but the package.json file must have the "type": "module" attribute. This feature is generally available in Node 14.0.0 and above.

Legacy (CommonJS/require)

DEPRECATED

If you need to use the older CommonJS format (i.e. require), run npm install @author.io/shell-legacy instead.

Browsers

CDN

import { Shell, Command } from 'https://cdn.pika.dev/@author.io/shell'

Also available from jsdelivr and unpkg.

Debugging

Each distribution has a corresponding -debug version that should be installed alongside the main module (the debugging is an add-on module). For example, npm install @author.io/shell-debug --save-dev would install the debugging code for Node. In the browser, appending the debug library adds sourcemaps.

Related Modules

1. @author.io/table - Used to generate the default usage/help messages for the shell and subcommands.

Sponsors (as of 2020)