oclif

What is oclif?

oclif is a framework for building command-line interfaces (CLIs) in Node.js. It provides a robust set of tools and conventions for creating and managing CLI applications, including support for plugins, argument parsing, and command scaffolding.

What are oclif's main functionalities?

Command Creation

This feature allows you to create new commands easily. The example demonstrates a simple 'Hello, world!' command.

const { Command } = require('@oclif/core');

class HelloWorldCommand extends Command {
  async run() {
    this.log('Hello, world!');
  }
}

HelloWorldCommand.run();

Argument Parsing

This feature provides built-in support for parsing command-line arguments and flags. The example shows a command that greets a user by name.

const { Command, flags } = require('@oclif/core');

class GreetCommand extends Command {
  static flags = {
    name: flags.string({ char: 'n', description: 'name to print' })
  };

  async run() {
    const { flags } = this.parse(GreetCommand);
    this.log(`Hello, ${flags.name || 'world'}!`);
  }
}

GreetCommand.run();

Plugins

This feature allows you to extend your CLI with plugins. The example demonstrates loading plugins within a command.

const { Command } = require('@oclif/core');
const { Plugins } = require('@oclif/plugin-plugins');

class MyCommand extends Command {
  async run() {
    const plugins = new Plugins(this.config);
    await plugins.load();
    this.log('Plugins loaded');
  }
}

MyCommand.run();

Other packages similar to oclif

commander

Commander is a popular library for building command-line interfaces in Node.js. It provides a simple and flexible API for defining commands, options, and arguments. Compared to oclif, Commander is more lightweight and less opinionated, making it a good choice for simpler CLI applications.

yargs

Yargs is another widely-used library for building CLI applications in Node.js. It offers powerful argument parsing capabilities and a rich set of features for handling complex command-line interfaces. Yargs is more feature-rich than Commander but still less structured than oclif, which provides a more comprehensive framework for CLI development.

vorpal

Vorpal is a framework for building interactive command-line applications in Node.js. It supports features like command history, tab completion, and interactive prompts. Vorpal is more focused on creating interactive CLIs, whereas oclif is designed for building both simple and complex command-line tools.

README

oclif CLI

• oclif CLI
• 🗒 Description
• 🚀 Getting Started Tutorial
• 📌 Requirements
• 📌 Migrating from V1
• 🏗 Usage
• 📚 Examples
• 🔨 Commands
• Command Topics
• 🚀 Contributing
• 🏭 Related Repositories
• 🦔 Learn More

🗒 Description

This is the oclif CLI for the Open CLI Framework, that supports the development of oclif plugins and CLIs.

See the docs for more information.

🚀 Getting Started Tutorial

The Getting Started tutorial is a step-by-step guide to introduce you to oclif. If you have not developed anything in a command line before, this tutorial is a great place to get started.

See Usage below for an overview of the oclif CLI.

📌 Requirements

Currently, Node 18+ is supported. We support the LTS versions of Node. You can add the node package to your CLI to ensure users are running a specific version of Node.

📌 Migrating from V1

If you have been using version 1 of the oclif CLI there are some important differences to note when using the latest version.

Breaking Changes

• oclif multi, oclif plugin, and oclif single have all been removed in favor of oclif generate, which generates an oclif based CLI using the hello-world example repo.
  • The reason is that there's not enough of a meaningful difference between a "multi command cli", a "single command cli", and a "plugin" to justify the maintenance cost. The generated CLI can be easily used for any of those use cases.
• oclif hook is now oclif generate:hook
• oclif command is now oclif generate:command

New Commands

Version 2 now includes all the commands from the oclif-dev CLI. This means that you can now use a single CLI for all your oclif needs. These commands include:

• oclif manifest
• oclif pack
• oclif pack:deb
• oclif pack:macos
• oclif pack:win
• oclif upload (formerly known as oclif-dev publish)
• oclif upload:deb (formerly known as oclif-dev publish:deb)
• oclif upload:macos (formerly known as oclif-dev publish:macos)
• oclif upload:win (formerly known as oclif-dev publish:win)
• oclif readme

🏗 Usage

Creating a CLI:

$ npx oclif generate mynewcli
? npm package name (mynewcli): mynewcli
$ cd mynewcli
$ ./bin/run.js --version
mynewcli/0.0.0 darwin-x64 node-v9.5.0
$ ./bin/run.js --help
USAGE
  $ mynewcli [COMMAND]

COMMANDS
  hello
  help   display help for mynewcli

$ ./bin/run.js hello world
hello world! (./src/commands/hello/world.ts)

📚 Examples

• Hello-World
• Salesforce CLI
• Heroku CLI

🔨 Commands

Command Topics

• oclif generate - Generate a new CLI
• oclif help - Display help for oclif.
• oclif init - Initialize a new oclif CLI
• oclif manifest - Generates plugin manifest json (oclif.manifest.json).
• oclif pack - Package an oclif CLI into installable artifacts.
• oclif promote - Promote CLI builds to a S3 release channel.
• oclif readme - Adds commands to README.md in current directory.
• oclif upload - Upload installable CLI artifacts to AWS S3.

🚀 Contributing

See the contributing guide.

🏭 Related Repositories

• @oclif/core - Base library for oclif. This can be used directly without the generator.
• @oclif/test - Test helper for oclif.

🦔 Learn More

• Salesforce Release Announcement
• Heroku Release Announcement