strongcli

A convenient but strict command-line parser with strong type checking for TypeScript.

Highlights

• Options never have unexpected types.
• Helpful error messages and usage text.
• Easy transition to subcommands if so desired.
• No dependencies.

Install

$ npm install @asgerf/strongcli

Usage

import * as cli from '@asgerf/strongcli';

interface Options {
    name?: string;
    count?: number;
}

let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    name: { value: String },
    count: { value: Number }
});

More examples

import * as cli from '@asgerf/strongcli';

interface Options {
    names: string[];
    count: number;
    force: boolean;
}

let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    name: {
        value: String,
        repeatable: true, // can be repeated, always maps to an array
    },
    count: {
        value: Number, // Parses the value of the option
        alias: '-c',   // Examples: --count 5 --count=5 -c 5 -c5
        default: 1,    // Set to 1 if not specified.
    },
    force: {}          // no args needed for boolean flags
});

console.log(options.names.join(', '));

Type checking

By passing your Options interface as a type argument to cli.main, the object literal you pass in will be checked.

For example, the following errors are found at compile-time:

interface Options {
    foo?: string;
    bar?: number;
    baz: number[];
}
cli.main<Options>({
    foo: {
        value: Number; // Error: expected return type 'string'
    },
    bar: {
        value: Number;
        repeatable: true; // Error: type of 'bar' is not an array
    },
    baz: {
        value: Number;
        repeatable: true; // OK
    }
})

Configuration

Instead of calling cli.main directly, you can prefix it with calls to program and/or parser:

cli.main();                    // for lazy people
cli.parser().main();           // create parser separately
cli.program().parser().main(); // configure parser first

For example:

let parser = cli.program('myprogram').parser<Options>({
    foo: {
        value: String
    }
});
let { options, args } = parser.main();
if (args.length === 0) {
    parser.help();
}

If you don't want strongcli to call process.exit or print directly to the console, avoid calling main and help, instead use parse and getHelp:

parser.main();  // on error, print and exit
parser.help();  // print and exit

parser.parse();   // on error, throw exception
parser.getHelp(); // return a string

Subcommands

To use subcommands, call .commandSet():

cli.commandSet()
cli.program().commandSet()

Then follow with .command() and .main(). For example:

let program = cli.commandSet();

interface AddOptions {
    name?: string;
    count?: number;
}
program.command<AddOptions>({
    name: 'add',
    options: {
        name: {
            value: String,
        },
        count: {
            alias: '-c',
            value: Number,
        },
    },
    callback(options, args) {
        /* execute 'add' command */
    }
});

/* ... more program.command() calls ... */

program.main();

Defaults

Set default to the value to use for an option that was omitted:

interface Options {
    baseDir: string;
}
let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    baseDir: {
        value: String,
        default: '.'
    }
})

If no default is specified, value options will be undefined, flags will be false, and repeatable value options will be empty arrays.

The default can also be a function creating the default value:

interface Options {
    pathMappings: Map<string, string>;
}
let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    baseDir: {
        value: s => parsePathMappings(s),
        default: () => new Map()
    }
})

Required options

To mark an option as required, set its default to cli.required:

interface Options {
    name: string;
}
let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    name: {
        value: String,
        default: cli.required
    }
});

Strict mode

If using TypeScript in strict mode, all value options must have a type that permits undefined (possibly by being optional) or have a default value. The default value can be cli.required (see above).

interface Options {
    foo: string;
    bar?: string;
    baz: boolean;
}
let { options, args } = cli.main<Options>({
    foo: {
        value: String,
        default: cli.required
    },
    bar: {
        value: String,
        // doesn't need a default as type is `bar?: string`
    },
    baz: {} // flags don't need to be marked as required
});

Repeatable options need no default as they default to an empty array.