clino

Package clino provides a simple way to create CLI (command-line interface) tools.

You can create commands to use with this package by implementing its interfaces. It supports the Unix -flag style.

Implementing commands

With clino, you implement a command by fulfilling interfaces instead of initializing command structs. The main advantage of this approach is that it is easier to test and to avoid globals.

Tip: Go interfaces are fulfilled implicit, so if you don't see a command being exposed or failing (for example), one of the first things you want to do is to check if your methods signatures fulfill clino's interfaces.

Command interface

Name (or usage line) for the command.

type Command interface {
	Name() string
}

Shorter interface

Shorter description of a command to show in the "help" output on a list of commands.

type Shorter interface {
	Short() string
}

Runnable interface

You should implement this interface for any command that you want to run directly on the CLI.

• It should receive a context and the command arguments, after parsing any flags.
• A context is required as we want cancelation to be a first-class citizen.
• You can rely on the context for canceling long tasks during tests.

type Runnable interface {
	Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error
}

FlagSet interface

You want to implement this interface to accept flags on your command.

type FlagSet interface {
	Flags(flags *flag.FlagSet)
}

PersistentFlagSet interface

Use the following PersistentFlagSet to define flags for a command and its children.

type PersistentFlagSet interface {
	PersistentFlags(flags *flag.FlagSet)
}

Longer interface

Description or help message for your command. The help command prints the returned value of the Long function as the "help" output of a command.

type Longer interface {
	Long() string
}

Footer interface

Footer of a command shown in the "help " output. It is useful for things like printing examples.

type Footer interface {
	Foot() string
}

Parent interface

Parent contains all subcommands of a given command. Your root command needs to implement it.

type Parent interface {
	Commands() []Command
}

Example code

You can see more examples in the example directory.

package main

import (
	"context"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"os"

	"github.com/henvic/clino"
)

func main() {
	p := clino.Program{
		Root: &RootCommand{},
	}
	if err := p.Run(context.Background(), os.Args[1:]...); err != nil {
		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%+v\n", err)
		os.Exit(clino.ExitCode(err))
	}
}

// RootCommand is the entrypoint of the application.
type RootCommand struct {
	name string
}

// Name of the application.
func (rc *RootCommand) Name() string {
	return "app"
}

// Long description of the application.
func (rc *RootCommand) Long() string {
	return "Example application."
}

// Flags of the command.
func (rc *RootCommand) Flags(flags *flag.FlagSet) {
	flags.StringVar(&rc.name, "name", "World", "your name")
}

// Run command.
func (rc *RootCommand) Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error {
	fmt.Printf("Hello, %s!\n", rc.name)
	return nil
}