The 'prompts' npm package is a lightweight, beautiful, and user-friendly command-line prompts library. It helps developers create interactive command-line interfaces (CLIs) with ease. It supports various types of input, validation, and conditional prompts.
Text Input
This feature allows for simple text input. The user is prompted to enter their name, and the input is then greeted.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'text',
name: 'name',
message: 'What is your name?'
});
console.log(`Hello, ${response.name}!`);
})();Password Input
This feature is for password input where the input is masked. The user is prompted to enter a password without displaying it on the screen.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'password',
name: 'password',
message: 'Enter your password'
});
console.log(`Your password is ${response.password}`);
})();Number Input
This feature allows for number input. The user is prompted to enter their age, and the input is then confirmed.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'number',
name: 'age',
message: 'How old are you?'
});
console.log(`You are ${response.age} years old.`);
})();Confirmation
This feature is for yes/no confirmation prompts. The user is asked to confirm, and the response is a boolean.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'confirm',
name: 'confirm',
message: 'Can you confirm?'
});
console.log(`You ${response.confirm ? 'confirmed' : 'did not confirm'}.`);
})();Choice Selection
This feature allows users to select from a list of choices. The user is prompted to pick a color from a list, and the selected value is then displayed.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'select',
name: 'color',
message: 'Pick a color',
choices: [
{ title: 'Red', value: '#ff0000' },
{ title: 'Green', value: '#00ff00' },
{ title: 'Blue', value: '#0000ff' }
]
});
console.log(`You picked ${response.color}`);
})();Multiple Selection
This feature allows users to select multiple items from a list. The user is prompted to select fruits, and the selected values are then displayed.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'multiselect',
name: 'fruits',
message: 'Select fruits',
choices: [
{ title: 'Apple', value: 'apple' },
{ title: 'Orange', value: 'orange' },
{ title: 'Pear', value: 'pear' }
]
});
console.log(`You selected ${response.fruits.join(', ')}`);
})();Inquirer.js is a common interactive command-line user interfaces library. It is more feature-rich and extensible than 'prompts', offering a wider variety of question types and more complex interactions, but it is also heavier.
Enquirer is a stylish CLI prompts library. It is similar to 'prompts' but offers more prompt types and is more customizable. It is designed with performance in mind and is suitable for applications requiring a high degree of user interaction.
Readline-sync is a synchronous readline for interactively running to have a conversation with the user via a console(TTY). It's simpler and only supports synchronous operations, unlike 'prompts' which is designed around promises and async/await.
Lightweight, beautiful and user-friendly interactive prompts
>_ Easy to use CLI prompts to enquire users for information▌
async/await. No callback hell.
$ npm install --save prompts
This package supports Node 6 and above
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'number',
name: 'value',
message: 'How old are you?',
validate: value => value < 18 ? `Nightclub is 18+ only` : true
});
console.log(response); // => { value: 24 }
})();
See
example.jsfor more options.
Prompt with a single prompt object. Returns an object with the response.
const prompts = require('prompts');
(async () => {
const response = await prompts({
type: 'text',
name: 'meaning',
message: 'What is the meaning of life?'
});
console.log(response.meaning);
})();
Prompt with a list of prompt objects. Returns an object with the responses.
Make sure to give each prompt a unique name property to prevent overwriting values.
const prompts = require('prompts');
const questions = [
{
type: 'text',
name: 'username',
message: 'What is your GitHub username?'
},
{
type: 'number',
name: 'age',
message: 'How old are you?'
},
{
type: 'text',
name: 'about',
message: 'Tell something about yourself',
initial: 'Why should I?'
}
];
(async () => {
const response = await prompts(questions);
// => response => { username, age, about }
})();
Prompt properties can be functions too.
Prompt Objects with type set to falsy values are skipped.
const prompts = require('prompts');
const questions = [
{
type: 'text',
name: 'dish',
message: 'Do you like pizza?'
},
{
type: prev => prev == 'pizza' ? 'text' : null,
name: 'topping',
message: 'Name a topping'
}
];
(async () => {
const response = await prompts(questions);
})();
Type: Function
Returns: Object
Prompter function which takes your prompt objects and returns an object with responses.
Type: Array|Object
Array of prompt objects. These are the questions the user will be prompted. You can see the list of supported prompt types here.
Prompts can be submitted (return, enter) or canceled (esc, abort, ctrl+c, ctrl+d). No property is being defined on the returned response object when a prompt is canceled.
Type: Function
Default: () => {}
Callback that's invoked after each prompt submission.
Its signature is (prompt, answer, answers) where prompt is the current prompt object, answer the user answer to the current question and answers the user answers so far. Async functions are supported.
Return true to quit the prompt chain and return all collected responses so far, otherwise continue to iterate prompt objects.
Example:
(async () => {
const questions = [{ ... }];
const onSubmit = (prompt, answer) => console.log(`Thanks I got ${answer} from ${prompt.name}`);
const response = await prompts(questions, { onSubmit });
})();
Type: Function
Default: () => {}
Callback that's invoked when the user cancels/exits the prompt.
Its signature is (prompt, answers) where prompt is the current prompt object and answers the user answers so far. Async functions are supported.
Return true to continue and prevent the prompt loop from aborting.
On cancel responses collected so far are returned.
Example:
(async () => {
const questions = [{ ... }];
const onCancel = prompt => {
console.log('Never stop prompting!');
return true;
}
const response = await prompts(questions, { onCancel });
})();
Type: Function
Preanswer questions by passing an object with answers to prompts.override.
Powerful when combined with arguments of process.
Example
const prompts = require('prompts');
prompts.override(require('yargs').argv);
(async () => {
const response = await prompts([
{
type: 'text',
name: 'twitter',
message: `What's your twitter handle?`
},
{
type: 'multiselect',
name: 'color',
message: 'Pick colors',
choices: [
{ title: 'Red', value: '#ff0000' },
{ title: 'Green', value: '#00ff00' },
{ title: 'Blue', value: '#0000ff' }
],
}
]);
console.log(response);
})();
Type: Function
Programmatically inject responses. This enables you to prepare the responses ahead of time. If any injected value is found the prompt is immediately resolved with the injected value. This feature is intended for testing only.
Type: Array
Array with values to inject. Resolved values are removed from the internal inject array.
Each value can be an array of values in order to provide answers for a question asked multiple times.
If a value is an instance of Error it will simulate the user cancelling/exiting the prompt.
Example:
const prompts = require('prompts');
prompts.inject([ '@terkelg', ['#ff0000', '#0000ff'] ]);
(async () => {
const response = await prompts([
{
type: 'text',
name: 'twitter',
message: `What's your twitter handle?`
},
{
type: 'multiselect',
name: 'color',
message: 'Pick colors',
choices: [
{ title: 'Red', value: '#ff0000' },
{ title: 'Green', value: '#00ff00' },
{ title: 'Blue', value: '#0000ff' }
],
}
]);
// => { twitter: 'terkelg', color: [ '#ff0000', '#0000ff' ] }
})();
Prompts Objects are JavaScript objects that define the "questions" and the type of prompt. Almost all prompt objects have the following properties:
{
type: String | Function,
name: String | Function,
message: String | Function,
initial: String | Function | Async Function
format: Function | Async Function,
onRender: Function
onState: Function
stdin: Readable
stdout: Writeable
}
Each property be of type function and will be invoked right before prompting the user.
The function signature is (prev, values, prompt), where prev is the value from the previous prompt,
values is the response object with all values collected so far and prompt is the previous prompt object.
Function example:
{
type: prev => prev > 3 ? 'confirm' : null,
name: 'confirm',
message: (prev, values) => `Please confirm that you eat ${values.dish} times ${prev} a day?`
}
The above prompt will be skipped if the value of the previous prompt is less than 3.
Type: String|Function
Defines the type of prompt to display. See the list of prompt types for valid values.
If type is a falsy value the prompter will skip that question.
{
type: null,
name: 'forgetme',
message: `I'll never be shown anyway`,
}
Type: String|Function
The response will be saved under this key/property in the returned response object. In case you have multiple prompts with the same name only the latest response will be stored.
Make sure to give prompts unique names if you don't want to overwrite previous values.
Type: String|Function
The message to be displayed to the user.
Type: String|Function
Optional default prompt value. Async functions are supported too.
Type: Function
Receive the user input and return the formatted value to be used inside the program. The value returned will be added to the response object.
The function signature is (val, values), where val is the value from the current prompt and
values is the current response object in case you need to format based on previous responses.
Example:
{
type: 'number',
name: 'price',
message: 'Enter price',
format: val => Intl.NumberFormat(undefined, { style: 'currency', currency: 'USD' }).format(val);
}
Type: Function
Callback for when the prompt is rendered.
The function receives kleur as its first argument and this refers to the current prompt.
Example:
{
type: 'number',
message: 'This message will be overridden',
onRender(kleur) {
this.msg = kleur.cyan('Enter a number');
}
}
Type: Function
Callback for when the state of the current prompt changes.
The function signature is (state) where state is an object with a snapshot of the current state.
The state object has two properties value and aborted. E.g { value: 'This is ', aborted: false }
Type: Stream
By default, prompts uses process.stdin for receiving input and process.stdout for writing output.
If you need to use different streams, for instance process.stderr, you can set these with the stdin and stdout properties.
Text prompt for free text input.
Hit tab to autocomplete to initial value when provided.
{
type: 'text',
name: 'value',
message: `What's your twitter handle?`
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | string | Default string value |
| style | string | Render style (default, password, invisible, emoji). Defaults to default |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| validate | function | Receive user input. Should return true if the value is valid, and an error message String otherwise. If false is returned, a default error message is shown |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Password prompt with masked input.
This prompt is a similar to a prompt of type 'text' with style set to 'password'.
{
type: 'password',
name: 'value',
message: 'Tell me a secret'
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | string | Default string value |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| validate | function | Receive user input. Should return true if the value is valid, and an error message String otherwise. If false is returned, a default error message is shown |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Prompts user for invisible text input.
This prompt is working like sudo where the input is invisible.
This prompt is a similar to a prompt of type 'text' with style set to 'invisible'.
{
type: 'invisible',
name: 'value',
message: 'Enter password'
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | string | Default string value |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| validate | function | Receive user input. Should return true if the value is valid, and an error message String otherwise. If false is returned, a default error message is shown |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Prompts user for number input.
You can type in numbers and use up/down to increase/decrease the value. Only numbers are allowed as input. Hit tab to autocomplete to initial value when provided.
{
type: 'number',
name: 'value',
message: 'How old are you?',
initial: 0,
style: 'default',
min: 2,
max: 10
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | number | Default number value |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| validate | function | Receive user input. Should return true if the value is valid, and an error message String otherwise. If false is returned, a default error message is shown |
| max | number | Max value. Defaults to Infinity |
| min | number | Min value. Defaults to -infinity |
| float | boolean | Allow floating point inputs. Defaults to false |
| round | number | Round float values to x decimals. Defaults to 2 |
| increment | number | Increment step when using arrow keys. Defaults to 1 |
| style | string | Render style (default, password, invisible, emoji). Defaults to default |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Classic yes/no prompt.
Hit y or n to confirm/reject.
{
type: 'confirm',
name: 'value',
message: 'Can you confirm?',
initial: true
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | boolean | Default value. Default is false |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
List prompt that return an array.
Similar to the text prompt, but the output is an Array containing the
string separated by separator.
{
type: 'list',
name: 'value',
message: 'Enter keywords',
initial: '',
separator: ','
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | boolean | Default value |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| separator | string | String separator. Will trim all white-spaces from start and end of string. Defaults to ',' |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Interactive toggle/switch prompt.
Use tab or arrow keys/tab/space to switch between options.
{
type: 'toggle',
name: 'value',
message: 'Can you confirm?',
initial: true,
active: 'yes',
inactive: 'no'
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | boolean | Default value. Defaults to false |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| active | string | Text for active state. Defaults to 'on' |
| inactive | string | Text for inactive state. Defaults to 'off' |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Interactive select prompt.
Use up/down to navigate. Use tab to cycle the list.
{
type: 'select',
name: 'value',
message: 'Pick a color',
choices: [
{ title: 'Red', description: 'This option has a description', value: '#ff0000' },
{ title: 'Green', value: '#00ff00', disabled: true },
{ title: 'Blue', value: '#0000ff' }
],
initial: 1
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | number | Index of default value |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| hint | string | Hint to display to the user |
| warn | string | Message to display when selecting a disabled option |
| choices | Array | Array of strings or choices objects [{ title, description, value, disabled }, ...]. The choice's index in the array will be used as its value if it is not specified. |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
↑ back to: Prompt types
Interactive multi-select prompt.
Autocomplete is a searchable multiselect prompt with the same options. Useful for long lists.
Use space to toggle select/unselect and up/down to navigate. Use tab to cycle the list. You can also use right to select and left to deselect.
By default this prompt returns an array containing the values of the selected items - not their display title.
{
type: 'multiselect',
name: 'value',
message: 'Pick colors',
choices: [
{ title: 'Red', value: '#ff0000' },
{ title: 'Green', value: '#00ff00', disabled: true },
{ title: 'Blue', value: '#0000ff', selected: true }
],
max: 2,
hint: '- Space to select. Return to submit'
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| instructions | string or boolean | Prompt instructions to display |
| choices | Array | Array of strings or choices objects [{ title, value, disabled }, ...]. The choice's index in the array will be used as its value if it is not specified. |
| optionsPerPage | number | Number of options displayed per page (default: 10) |
| min | number | Min select - will display error |
| max | number | Max select |
| hint | string | Hint to display to the user |
| warn | string | Message to display when selecting a disabled option |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
This is one of the few prompts that don't take a initial value.
If you want to predefine selected values, give the choice object an selected property of true.
↑ back to: Prompt types
Interactive auto complete prompt.
The prompt will list options based on user input. Type to filter the list. Use ⇧/⇩ to navigate. Use tab to cycle the result. Use Page Up/Page Down (on Mac: fn + ⇧ / ⇩) to change page. Hit enter to select the highlighted item below the prompt.
The default suggests function is sorting based on the title property of the choices.
You can overwrite how choices are being filtered by passing your own suggest function.
{
type: 'autocomplete',
name: 'value',
message: 'Pick your favorite actor',
choices: [
{ title: 'Cage' },
{ title: 'Clooney', value: 'silver-fox' },
{ title: 'Gyllenhaal' },
{ title: 'Gibson' },
{ title: 'Grant' }
]
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| format | function | Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
| choices | Array | Array of auto-complete choices objects [{ title, value }, ...] |
| suggest | function | Filter function. Defaults to sort by title property. suggest should always return a promise. Filters using title by default |
| limit | number | Max number of results to show. Defaults to 10 |
| style | string | Render style (default, password, invisible, emoji). Defaults to 'default' |
| initial | string | number | Default initial value |
| clearFirst | boolean | The first ESCAPE keypress will clear the input |
| fallback | string | Fallback message when no match is found. Defaults to initial value if provided |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with three properties: value, aborted and exited |
Example on what a suggest function might look like:
const suggestByTitle = (input, choices) =>
Promise.resolve(choices.filter(i => i.title.slice(0, input.length) === input))
↑ back to: Prompt types
Interactive date prompt.
Use left/right/tab to navigate. Use up/down to change date.
{
type: 'date',
name: 'value',
message: 'Pick a date',
initial: new Date(1997, 09, 12),
validate: date => date > Date.now() ? 'Not in the future' : true
}
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| message | string | Prompt message to display |
| initial | date | Default date |
| locales | object | Use to define custom locales. See below for an example. |
| mask | string | The format mask of the date. See below for more information. Default: YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss |
| validate | function | Receive user input. Should return true if the value is valid, and an error message String otherwise. If false is returned, a default error message is shown |
| onRender | function | On render callback. Keyword this refers to the current prompt |
| onState | function | On state change callback. Function signature is an object with two properties: value and aborted |
Default locales:
{
months: [
'January', 'February', 'March', 'April',
'May', 'June', 'July', 'August',
'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'
],
monthsShort: [
'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
],
weekdays: [
'Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday',
'Thursday', 'Friday', 'Saturday'
],
weekdaysShort: [
'Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat'
]
}
Formatting: See full list of formatting options in the wiki
↑ back to: Prompt types
Many of the prompts are based on the work of derhuerst.
MIT © Terkel Gjervig
FAQs
Lightweight, beautiful and user-friendly prompts
The npm package prompts receives a total of 11,441,571 weekly downloads. As such, prompts popularity was classified as popular.
We found that prompts demonstrated a not healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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