yargs-interactive

Yargs Interactive

Interactive (prompt) support for yargs, based on inquirer. Useful for using the same CLI for both for humans and non-humans (like CI tools). Also supports mixed mode (yay!).

This tool helps you to build command line tools without worring to parse arguments or ask them.

Installation

npm install -S yargs-interactive

Then, add this code in your CLI code to get all the arguments parsed:

#!/usr/bin/env node

const yargsInteractive = require('yargs-interactive');
const options = {
  name: { type: 'input', default: 'nano', describe: 'Enter your name' },
  likesPizza: { type: 'confirm', default: false, describe: 'Do you like pizza?' },
};

yargsInteractive()
  .usage('$0 <command> [args]')
  .interactive(options)
  .then((result) => {
    // Your business logic goes here.
    // Get the arguments from the result
    // (e.g. result.name)
  });

Note: See more usage examples in the examples folder.

Usage

It supports the following use cases

• Prompt questions with default values (full-interactive)
• Prompt just some questions (mixed mode)
• No prompt at all (ye olde yargs)

Prompt questions with default values (full-interactive)

my-cli.js

const yargsInteractive = require('yargs-interactive');

const options = {
  name: {
    type: 'input',
    default: 'nano',
    describe: 'Enter your name'
  },
  likesPizza: {
    type: 'confirm',
    default: false,
    describe: 'Do you like pizza?'
  },
};

yargsInteractive()
  .usage('$0 <command> [args]')
  .interactive(options)
  .then((result) => {
    // The tool will prompt questions and will output your answers.
    // TODO: Do something with the result (e.g result.name)
    console.log(result)
  });

Usage in terminal

➜ node my-cli.js --interactive

If you want to use interactive mode always, just set the --interactive`` parameter to true` by default.

const options = {
  interactive: { default: true },
  ...
};

yargsInteractive()
  .usage('$0 <command> [args]')
  .interactive(options)
  .then((result) => {
    // The tool will prompt questions and will output your answers.
    // TODO: Do something with the result (e.g result.name)
    console.log(result)
  });

And then simply call your CLI with no parameters.

➜ node my-cli.js

What type of prompts are supported? It provides all prompt types supported by Inquirer.

Prompt just some questions (mixed mode)

You can opt-out options from interactive mode by setting the prompt property to false.

my-cli.js

const yargsInteractive = require('yargs-interactive');

const options = {
  name: {
    type: 'input',
    name: 'nano',
    describe: 'Enter your name'
  },
  likesPizza: {
    type: 'confirm',
    default: false,
    describe: 'Do you like pizza?',
    prompt: false // because everyone likes pizza
  },
};

yargsInteractive()
  .usage('$0 <command> [args]')
  .interactive(options)
  .then((result) => {
    // The tool will prompt questions for all options and will output your answers.
    // You can opt-out options by using `prompt: false`. For these properties, it
    // will use the value sent by parameter (--likesPizza) or the default value.
    // TODO: Do something with the result (e.g result.name)
    console.log(result);
  });

Usage in terminal

➜ node my-cli.js --name='Johh' --interactive

No prompt at all (ye olde yargs)

my-cli.js

const yargsInteractive = require('yargs-interactive');

const options = {
  name: {
    type: 'input',
    name: 'nano',
    describe: 'Enter your name'
  },
  likesPizza: {
    type: 'confirm',
    default: false,
    describe: 'Do you like pizza?'
  },
};

yargsInteractive()
  .usage('$0 <command> [args]')
  .interactive(options)
  .then((result) => {
    // The tool will output the values set via parameters or
    // the default value (if not provided).
    // TODO: Do something with the result (e.g result.name)
    console.log(result);
  });

Usage in terminal

➜ node my-cli.js --name='Johh' --likesPizza