ora

What is ora?

The ora npm package is a terminal spinner for Node.js applications. It provides an easy way to display a spinner in the command line interface (CLI) during the execution of long-running tasks, giving users a visual cue that processing is taking place. It is highly customizable and can be used to enhance the user experience in CLI tools.

What are ora's main functionalities?

Basic spinner

This code sample demonstrates how to create a basic spinner that starts with a message, runs for a specified duration, and then marks the operation as successful.

const ora = require('ora');

const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();

setTimeout(() => {
  spinner.succeed('Unicorns loaded');
}, 1000);

Customize spinner color, text, and spinner

This code sample shows how to customize the spinner's appearance by setting the color, text, and spinner design. It also demonstrates how to update these properties while the spinner is running.

const ora = require('ora');

const spinner = ora({
  text: 'Loading rainbows',
  color: 'magenta',
  spinner: 'moon'
}).start();

setTimeout(() => {
  spinner.color = 'yellow';
  spinner.text = 'Loading sun';
}, 1000);

Control spinner success and failure

This code sample illustrates how to control the spinner to indicate success or failure of an operation. In this case, the spinner is stopped with a failure message.

const ora = require('ora');

const spinner = ora('Loading with great anticipation').start();

setTimeout(() => {
  spinner.fail('Something went wrong');
}, 1000);

Other packages similar to ora

cli-spinners

cli-spinners provides a collection of spinners for use in the terminal, similar to ora, but it does not manage the spinner state or provide methods to start, succeed, or fail. It is more of a raw collection of spinner designs.

clui

clui is a collection of Node.js command line UI components, which includes a spinner similar to ora. However, clui offers a broader set of UI components such as gauges, progress bars, and line charts, making it more versatile for building complex CLI interfaces.

log-update

log-update is a package that allows you to log by overwriting the previous output in the terminal. While it doesn't provide a built-in spinner, it can be used to create custom spinners or other dynamic terminal interfaces by manually controlling the output rendering.

README

ora

Elegant terminal spinner

Install

$ npm install --save ora

Usage

const ora = require('ora');

const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();

setTimeout(() => {
	spinner.color = 'yellow';
	spinner.text = 'Loading rainbows';
}, 1000);

API

It will gracefully not do anything when there's no TTY or when in a CI.

ora([options|text])

If a string is provided, it is treated as a shortcut for options.text.

options

Type: object

text

Type: string

Text to display after the spinner.

spinner

Type: string object
Default: dots

Name of one of the provided spinners. See example.js in this repo if you want to test out different spinners.

Or an object like:

{
	interval: 80, // optional
	frames: ['-', '+', '-']
}

color

Type: string
Default: cyan
Values: black red green yellow blue magenta cyan white gray

Color of the spinner.

interval

Type: number
Default: Provided by the spinner or 100

Interval between each frame.

Spinners provide their own recommended interval, so you don't really need to specify this.

stream

Type: WritableStream
Default: process.stderr

Stream to write the output.

You could for example set this to process.stdout instead.

enabled

Type: boolean
Default: false

Force enabling of the spinner regardless of the stream not being run inside a TTY context and/or in a CI environment.

Instance

.start()

Start the spinner. Returns the instance.

.stop()

Stop and clear the spinner. Returns the instance.

.clear()

Clear the spinner. Returns the instance.

.render()

Manually render a new frame. Returns the instance.

.frame()

Get a new frame.

.text

Change the text.

.color

Change the spinner color.

Related

• cli-spinners - Spinners for use in the terminal

License

MIT © Sindre Sorhus