The enquirer npm package is a stylish, intuitive, and user-friendly way to interact with users via the command line. It provides a rich set of prompt types and utilities to make CLI development easier and more interactive.
Text Input
This feature allows you to ask users for text input. The example shows how to ask for a username.
const { prompt } = require('enquirer');
prompt({
type: 'input',
name: 'username',
message: 'What is your username?'
}).then(answer => console.log('Username:', answer.username));Password Input
This feature enables you to securely ask users for a password, hiding their input on the screen.
const { prompt } = require('enquirer');
prompt({
type: 'password',
name: 'password',
message: 'What is your password?'
}).then(answer => console.log('Password:', answer.password));Multiple Choice (Select)
This feature allows users to choose from a list of options. The example demonstrates asking users to pick a color from a list.
const { prompt } = require('enquirer');
prompt({
type: 'select',
name: 'color',
message: 'Pick a color',
choices: ['Red', 'Green', 'Blue']
}).then(answer => console.log('Selected color:', answer.color));Checkbox
This feature lets users select multiple options from a list. The example asks users to select their favorite fruits.
const { prompt } = require('enquirer');
prompt({
type: 'multiselect',
name: 'fruits',
message: 'What are your favorite fruits?',
choices: ['Apple', 'Orange', 'Grape', 'Watermelon']
}).then(answer => console.log('Favorite fruits:', answer.fruits));Inquirer.js is a common alternative to Enquirer with a similar feature set for creating interactive CLI prompts. It's known for its wide adoption and extensive plugin system but is generally considered to be heavier than Enquirer.
Prompts is a lightweight, minimal alternative that focuses on simplicity and performance. While it offers a similar range of prompt types to Enquirer, it might not be as feature-rich or extensible.
Intuitive plugin-based prompt system for node.js.
(TOC generated by verb using markdown-toc)
Create an instance of Enquirer with the given options.
Params
options {Object}Example
var Enquirer = require('enquirer');
var enquirer = new Enquirer();
Register a new prompt type with the given fn.
Params
type {String}: The name of the prompt typefn {Function}: Prompt function that inherits from prompt-base.returns {Object}: Returns the Enquirer instance for chaining.Example
enquirer.register('confirm', require('enquirer-prompt-confirm'));
Invoke a plugin fn
Params
fn {Function}: Function that takes an instance of Enquirerreturns {Object}: Returns the instance for chaining.Example
enquirer.use(require('some-enquirer-plugin'));
Create question name with the given message and options. Uses enquirer-question, visit that library for additional details.
Params
name {String|Object}: Name or options objectmessage {String|Object}: Message or options objectoptions {Object}returns {Object}: Returns the created question objectEvents
emits: questionExample
enquirer.question('color', 'What is your favorite color?');
enquirer.question('color', 'What is your favorite color?', {
default: 'blue'
});
enquirer.question('color', {
message: 'What is your favorite color?',
default: 'blue'
});
enquirer.question({
name: 'color',
message: 'What is your favorite color?',
default: 'blue'
});
enquirer.question({
name: 'color',
type: 'input', // "input" is the default prompt type and doesn't need to be specified
message: 'What is your favorite color?',
default: 'blue'
});
Initialize a prompt session for one or more questions.
returns {Array|Object} questions: One or more question objects or names of registered questions.Events
emits: ask With the array of questions to be askedExample
var Enquirer = require('enquirer');
var enquirer = new Enquirer();
enquirer.question('first', 'First name?');
enquirer.question('last', 'Last name?');
enquirer.ask('first')
.then(function(answers) {
console.log(answers)
});
// errors
enquirer.ask('first')
.then(function(answers) {
console.log(answers)
})
.catch(function(err) {
console.log(err)
});
Initialize a prompt session for a single question. Used by the ask method.
Params
name {String}Events
emits: prompt with the default value, key, question object, and answers objectemits: answer with the answer value, key, question object, and answers objectExample
var Enquirer = require('enquirer');
var enquirer = new Enquirer();
enquirer.question('first', 'First name?');
enquirer.prompt('first')
.then(function(answers) {
console.log(answers)
});
Create a new Separator to use in a choices array.
Create a new Separator to use in a choices array.
What is a prompt "type"?
Prompt types determine the type of question - or prompt - to initiate. Currently, the only prompt type that ships with enquirer is input.
These following additional prompt types are available as plugins:
Or you can use enquirer-prompts, if you want a bundle with all of the listed prompt types.
Prompt modules are named using the convention prompt-*.
TBC
TODO
Plugin modules are named using the convention enquirer-*.
TBC
We use prompts extensively in our projects, and we wanted to improve the user experience and reduce dependencies associated with other libraries we tried, like Inquirer.
Our main goals were:
Initial load time
Enquirer takes ~11ms to load. This is about the same amount of time that it takes chalk to load.
By comparison, Inquirer takes ~120ms to load. This is about how long it takes babel, or other massive libraries that you would never include in production code.
Regardless of whether or not a prompt is every actually used, your own application will be 120ms slower from having Inquirer in its dependency tree. This is caused by its own massive dependency tree, code redundancy, monolithic and slow reactive interface (which makes little sense for this use case anyway), poor API design (Inquirer actually executes code, even if you never call the library!), and so on.
120ms might not seem like a lot, but there is a critical threshold where performance of an application begins to feel laggy, and having inquirer in your dependency tree cuts into that threshold significantly, leaving less room for everything else.
Make prompts easier to add
Inquirer uses a reactive interface for flow control. Aside from being overkill and not offering and real code advantages, to work with the code you need to be familiar with microsoft's RX first. This makes it a pain to add new prompt types (e.g. you probably won't).
Regarding the specific "merits" of RX alone, we think it's overkill, makes the application slow, bloated, hard to maintain, hard to contribute to, and difficult to extend. Events are sufficient.
Code footprint
By moving prompt types into separate libraries, we're able to keep the core library small and fast. Moreover, implementors and authors can create their own prompt types without having to require enquirer itself (unlike inquirer). This also makes the individual prompt libraries easier to maintain.
Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, please create an issue.
Please read the contributing guide for advice on opening issues, pull requests, and coding standards.
Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command:
$ npm install && npm test
Jon Schlinkert
Copyright © 2017, Jon Schlinkert. Released under the MIT License.
This file was generated by verb-generate-readme, v0.6.0, on May 22, 2017.
FAQs
Stylish, intuitive and user-friendly prompt system. Fast and lightweight enough for small projects, powerful and extensible enough for the most advanced use cases.
The npm package enquirer receives a total of 7,573,219 weekly downloads. As such, enquirer popularity was classified as popular.
We found that enquirer demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 2 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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