clide

CLI definitions

Usage

Define your interface

greet.js

var clide = require('clide');

clide({
    user: 'Name to greet'
}, function (props) {
    console.log('Hello ' + props.user + '!');
});

Use it with command line params

node greet.js --name world

Hello world!

Use it with a configuration file

~/.greetrc

{
    "name": "shadow"
}

greet.js

Hello shadow!

Prompt fallbacks

No config nor params provided? Prompts to the rescue!

greet.js

Name to greet: pfraces
Hello pfraces!

Common CLI options added for free!

Get help

greet.js --help

Get version from package.json

greet.js --version

0.1.0

Use specific config file

greet.js --config /path/to/config

greet.js --config <( echo '{ "name": "inlined!" }' )

Hello inlined!!

More customized example

password.js

var clide = require('clide');

clide({
    user: 'User name',
    pass: {
        description: 'Password',
        hidden: true
    }
}, function (props) {

    // Do whatever with your defined props.
    // No checks for null or undefined are needed.

    if (props.pass !== 'foo') {
        console.log('not authorized');
    } else {
        console.log('Hello ' + props.user + '!');
    }

    // check for optional (not defined) ones

    if (props.time) {
        console.log(new Date());
    }
}, function (err) {

    // Define your error handling here.
    // This fallback function is optional.
    // If not provided, the possible errors will cause an exception.

    console.log(err);
});

Installation

npm install clide

Motivation

I used to integrate optimist, rc and prompt in my CLI scripts to define its required properties and several ways to get their values

1. defaults from configuration files
2. override defaults with command line params
3. fallback to prompts

I find this pattern so useful for quick start with your CLI minimals, so let's write the glue between them for improved laziness