# boring

> A minimalist command line option parser.

Latest version **1.1.2** (published 2026-09-30) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads

## Install

```sh
npm install boring
pnpm add boring
yarn add boring
bun add boring
```

## Health

**Score 55/100 (C)** — status: active.

Positive: no vulnerabilities; recently updated; high maintenance score.

Warnings: low downloads; no types; no esm support.

## Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.1.2 |
| Published | 2026-09-30 |
| First published | 2015-04-11 |
| Weekly downloads | 0 |
| License | MIT |
| TypeScript types | none |
| Module format | CommonJS |
| Dependencies | 0 |
| Unpacked size | 11.8 KB |
| Known vulnerabilities | 0 |
| Install scripts | no |
| GitHub stars | 4635 |
| Author | Apostrophe Technologies, Inc. |
| Maintainers | alexgilbert, boutell, romanek, bodonkey, gregvanbrug, stuartromanek, alexbea, mtthwmnc, breyell, valjed |
| Keywords | minimalist, command, line, options, argv, boring |

## Links

- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/boring
- Repository: https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe
- Homepage: https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/tree/main/packages/boring#readme
- Issues: https://github.com/apostrophecms/apostrophe/issues
- npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/boring

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## Recent versions

- 1.1.2 (latest) — 2026-09-30
- 1.1.1 — 2021-03-24
- 1.1.0 — 2021-02-19
- 1.0.0 — 2019-07-23
- 0.1.0 — 2015-04-11

## README

# Boring

<a href="https://apostrophecms.com/"><img src="https://raw.github.com/apostrophecms/boring/master/logos/logo-box-madefor.png" align="right" alt="Made for ApostropheCMS"/></a>

A command line argument parser without pirates

## What you get with Boring

Input:

```
node app jump sideways --foo --bar=whee --super-cool=totally
```

Response:

```javascript
{
  _: [ "jump", "sideways"],
  foo: true,
  bar: "whee",
  "super-cool": "totally"
}
```

Notice that parameters without `--`, if any, go into the `_` array. Parameters with `--` become properties in their own right.

## How you get it

```javascript
const argv = require('boring')({});
```

The options object is optional.

## Options

### Passthrough

It is a common convention to never treat any arguments that appear after a `--` placeholder (by itself) as named options, even if they start with `--`.

Instead, the remainder are treated as positional arguments, no matter what.

To get this behavior with Boring, pass the `end: true` option:

```javascript
const argv = require('boring')({
  end: true
});
console.log(argv);
```

Now, when you run this command:

```bash
node app hello --pretty -- --boring
```

You will get:

```javascript
{
  _: [ 'hello', '--boring' ],
  pretty: true
}
```

## What you don't get with boring

### Single hyphens: nope

There is no support for old-fashioned "single-hyphen" options, like:

```
-x 50
```

Or:

```
-h
```

You can't tell which are boolean and which take arguments unless a specification is passed in. And that's not boring enough for us.

### Usage messages, strictness, etc.: nope

These are very simple to implement, and if you're like us, you'd rather do it yourself.

## Philosophy

We have nothing against full-featured, pirate-themed option parsers, which are very nice if you're into that sort of thing. We just find ourselves walking the plank when our options don't follow the pattern of what's easy to validate with piracy.

This simple module is too dumb to break.

## About ApostropheCMS

Boring was created for use in ApostropheCMS, an open-source content management system built on node.js. If you like Boring you should definitely [check out apostrophecms.org](http://apostrophecms.org).

## Support

Feel free to open issues on [github](http://github.com/apostrophecms/boring).

<a href="http://apostrophecms.com/"><img src="https://raw.github.com/apostrophecms/boring/master/logos/logo-box-builtby.png" /></a>

---
_Source: https://npm.io/package/boring · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._