Ask HN: What do you use to make CLIs?

11 pointsmmwtsn3y ago14 comments

I am curious what people reach for when writing CLIs these days; specifically what language, libraries (if any), and why?

By CLI, I mean any executable program or script like git that supports commands, sub-commands, and POSIX-style flags.

I mostly work in Go, and have been happy with the standard library[1] or Cobra[2]. I also write a lot of shell scripts.

I thought it would be interesting to see some other approaches.

[1]: https://pkg.go.dev/flag [2]: https://cobra.dev

14 comments

asicsp3y ago

I use a lot of CLI tools, but haven't written many for myself. Mostly, aliases/functions and some scripts in Bash/Python.

1) Extract details for command options from man/help: https://github.com/learnbyexample/command_help/blob/master/c...

2) cut-like syntax for field manipulations with regexp, negative indexing, etc: https://github.com/learnbyexample/regexp-cut/blob/main/rcut

3) Simple calculator using python syntax: https://learnbyexample.github.io/practice_python_projects/ca...

simonblack3y ago

Sorry. Unless I'm missing something completely, I have to ask: 'Why would you bother to reinvent the wheel?'

If you want something like bash, just use bash. If you want a CLI in a GUI environment, just use 'terminal', or'xterm' or similar.

If you're talking about apps that run in a CLI, then the world is your oyster. Use whatever you need depending on what the app requires.

If you're talking about what language to use, then just use which ever language that you're comfortable with that can/will produce a text output.

wizwit9993y ago

Oclif is pretty nice for NodeJS, we use it for https://github.com/matanolabs/matano . https://github.com/charmbracelet/bubbletea looks really beautiful, if you use Go.

jathu3y ago

I made fx at Flexport, which hosted many of our CLI tools. I liked it a lot, so I made one for myself when I left: https://github.com/jathu/fx

fx is a workspace tool manager. It allows you to create consistent, discoverable, language-neutral and developer friendly command line tools.

stop503y ago

For python i like the builtin argparse.

ezekg3y ago

I use Go and Cobra for my business’s CLI [0]. I like it. Go is pretty unmatched for CLIs.

[0]: https://github.com/keygen-sh/keygen-cli

FujiApple3y ago

Rust + Clap: https://github.com/clap-rs/clap

pez_dev3y ago

Mostly go whenever shell scripts are not enough.

Check out the libraries from charm (charm.sh). They really make the command line glamorous!

marek_leisk23y ago

https://typer.tiangolo.com/

IceMetalPunk3y ago

I'm a JavaScript dev, so I tend to go for Node with Inquirer + Commander.

linkdd3y ago

Rust + Clap

Go + Cobra

Python + Click

drakonka3y ago

I usually turn to Go for all of my CLI needs.

zem3y ago

mostly ruby or python, though I would like to explore ocaml more for the purpose

rurban3y ago

95% C (with occasional Windows quirks),

5% shell.

previously lots of perl

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse