@inquirer/search

@inquirer/search

Interactive search prompt component for command line interfaces.

Installation

npm	yarn
npm install @inquirer/prompts	yarn add @inquirer/prompts
npm install @inquirer/search	yarn add @inquirer/search

Usage

import { search, Separator } from '@inquirer/prompts';
// Or
// import search, { Separator } from '@inquirer/search';

const answer = await search({
  message: 'Select an npm package',
  source: async (input, { signal }) => {
    if (!input) {
      return [];
    }

    const response = await fetch(
      `https://registry.npmjs.org/-/v1/search?text=${encodeURIComponent(input)}&size=20`,
      { signal },
    );
    const data = await response.json();

    return data.objects.map((pkg) => ({
      name: pkg.package.name,
      value: pkg.package.name,
      description: pkg.package.description,
    }));
  },
});

Options

Property	Type	Required	Description
message	string	yes	The question to ask
source	(term: string | void) => Promise<Choice[]>	yes	This function returns the choices relevant to the search term.
pageSize	number	no	By default, lists of choice longer than 7 will be paginated. Use this option to control how many choices will appear on the screen at once.
default	Value	no	Defines in front of which item the cursor will initially appear. When omitted, the cursor will appear on the first selectable item.
validate	Value => boolean | string | Promise<boolean | string>	no	On submit, validate the answer. When returning a string, it'll be used as the error message displayed to the user. Note: returning a rejected promise, we'll assume a code error happened and crash.
theme	See Theming	no	Customize look of the prompt.

source function

The full signature type of source is as follow:

function(
  term: string | void,
  opt: { signal: AbortSignal },
): Promise<ReadonlyArray<Choice<Value> | Separator>>;

When term is undefined, it means the search term input is empty. You can use this to return default choices, or return an empty array.

Aside from returning the choices:

• An AbortSignal is passed in to cancel ongoing network calls when the search term change.
• Separators can be used to organize the list.

Choice object

The Choice object is typed as

type Choice<Value> = {
  value: Value;
  name?: string;
  description?: string;
  short?: string;
  disabled?: boolean | string;
};

Here's each property:

• value: The value is what will be returned by await search().
• name: This is the string displayed in the choice list.
• description: Option for a longer description string that'll appear under the list when the cursor highlight a given choice.
• short: Once the prompt is done (press enter), we'll use short if defined to render next to the question. By default we'll use name.
• disabled: Disallow the option from being selected. If disabled is a string, it'll be used as a help tip explaining why the choice isn't available.

Choices can also be an array of string, in which case the string will be used both as the value and the name.

Validation & autocomplete interaction

The validation within the search prompt acts as a signal for the autocomplete feature.

When a list value is submitted and fail validation, the prompt will compare it to the search term. If they're the same, the prompt display the error. If they're not the same, we'll autocomplete the search term to match the value. Doing this will trigger a new search.

You can rely on this behavior to implement progressive autocomplete searches. Where you want the user to narrow the search in a progressive manner.

Pressing tab also triggers the term autocomplete.

You can see this behavior in action in our search demo.

Theming

You can theme a prompt by passing a theme object option. The theme object only need to includes the keys you wish to modify, we'll fallback on the defaults for the rest.

type Theme = {
  prefix: string | { idle: string; done: string };
  spinner: {
    interval: number;
    frames: string[];
  };
  style: {
    answer: (text: string) => string;
    message: (text: string, status: 'idle' | 'done' | 'loading') => string;
    error: (text: string) => string;
    help: (text: string) => string;
    highlight: (text: string) => string;
    description: (text: string) => string;
    disabled: (text: string) => string;
    searchTerm: (text: string) => string;
    keysHelpTip: (keys: [key: string, action: string][]) => string | undefined;
  };
  icon: {
    cursor: string;
  };
};

theme.style.keysHelpTip

This function allows you to customize the keyboard shortcuts help tip displayed below the prompt. It receives an array of key-action pairs and should return a formatted string. You can also hook here to localize the labels to different languages.

It can also returns undefined to hide the help tip entirely.

theme: {
  style: {
    keysHelpTip: (keys) => {
      // Return undefined to hide the help tip completely.
      return undefined;

      // Or customize the formatting. Or localize the labels.
      return keys.map(([key, action]) => `${key}: ${action}`).join(' | ');
    };
  }
}

Recipes

Debounce search

import { setTimeout } from 'node:timers/promises';
import { search } from '@inquirer/prompts';

const answer = await search({
  message: 'Select an npm package',
  source: async (input, { signal }) => {
    await setTimeout(300);
    if (signal.aborted) return [];

    // Do the search
    fetch(...)
  },
});

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Simon Boudrias (twitter: @vaxilart)
Licensed under the MIT license.