Meow-helper NPM

Features

Generates help text without effort. See images below.
Provides common flags. (--help and --version)
meow throws unknown flags with the allowUnknownFlags option. meow-helper shows help text instead of throwing. You can change this behavior with the notThrow option.
Formats, colorizes, and aligns arguments, options, default values, and their descriptions.
Marks required fields with an *.
Supports maximum line length and automatic word wrap.
Splits options into two lines if space for description is too small. You can change this behavior with the multilineThreshold option.
Generates description, usage, arguments, flags/options, examples sections.
Colorizes command in usage and examples and adds $ before command.
Exports chalk and cliui.
Supports both { autoHelp: true } and { autoHelp: false }. Adds a description to help if required.
Moves three dots in arguments outside of brackets. For example: args: { “path...” } becomes command <path>...
Adds three dots ... to flags with multiple value.

Synopsis

TypeScript

import getHelp, { commonFlags, chalk, cliui } from "meow-helper";
import type { ExtendedAnyFlags } from "meow-helper";
import { readFileSync } from "fs";
import { join } from "path";

CommonJS

const { default: getHelp, commonFlags, chalk, cliui } = require("meow-helper");
const { readFileSync } = require("fs");

Usage

const flags: ExtendedAnyFlags = {
  name: { alias: "n", type: "string", desc: "Name" },
  cwd: { alias: "c", type: "string", desc: "Working path." },
  context: { type: "string", desc: "Context." },
  ...commonFlags,
};

// Groups options. Keys are the first option of the group.
const groups = {
  name: { title: "General Options", description: "Some description" },
  context: { title: "Other Options", description: "Other description" },
};

const args = { "path...": "Paths of files." };
const pkg = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(__dirname, "../package.json"), { encoding: "utf8" }));

meow(getHelp({ flags, args, groups, pkg }), { flags, pkg, allowUnknownFlags: false });

const help = getHelp({
  lineLength: 80,
  titleLength: 15,
  pkg: {}, // package.json data
  command: "not-sync",
  description: "Description of the command",
  args: { path: "Path of file." },
  flags, // meow flags with `desc` key.
  examples: ["not-sync node_modules,dist,coverage", "not-sync node_modules,dist,coverage --ignoreConfigs .gitignore"],
  multilineThreshold: 50,
  autoHelp: true,
  notThrow: true,
});

Details

meow-helper generates single-line or multi-line help text based on the multilineThreshold option automatically.

Single-Line

meow-helper help text in single line mode

Multi-Line

meow-helper help text in multi line mode

API

Interfaces

HelpOptions

Type aliases

ExtendedAnyFlag

Ƭ ExtendedAnyFlag: AnyFlag & { desc?: string }

Meow flag extended with desc key.

Defined in: get-help.ts:8

ExtendedAnyFlags

Ƭ ExtendedAnyFlags: Record<string, ExtendedAnyFlag>

Record of extended any flag.

Defined in: get-help.ts:11

Variables

cliui

• Const cliui: any

Defined in: index.ts:5

commonFlags

• Const commonFlags: ExtendedAnyFlags

Very common flags

Defined in: index.ts:12

Functions

default

▸ default(helpOptions: HelpOptions): string

Generate help text for meow.

Example

const flags: ExtendedFlags = { cwd: { alias: "c", type: "string", desc: "Current CWD." }, ...commonFlags };
const args = { path: "Path of file." };

meow(getHelp({ flags, args, pkg }), { flags, pkg, allowUnknownFlags: false });

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description
`helpOptions`	HelpOptions	are options

Returns: string

Defined in: get-help.ts:193

Interfaces

meow-helper / HelpOptions

Interface: HelpOptions

Options below modify behaviour of [getHelp] function.

Properties

args

• Optional args: Record<string, string>

Name and description of positional arguments.

Defined in: get-help.ts:28

autoHelp

• Optional autoHelp: boolean

This option sets whether the autoHelp option of meow is used. If this is true, the description text is not added, because meow adds it automatically.

Defined in: get-help.ts:36

command

• Optional command: string

Name of the command.

Defined in: get-help.ts:22

description

• Optional description: string | string[]

Command description.

Defined in: get-help.ts:24

examples

• Optional examples: string | string[]

A single example or list of examples can be provided to show in the help text. Lines are prefixed with $ and the command is colored automatically.

Defined in: get-help.ts:32

flags

• Optional flags: ExtendedAnyFlags

Flags provided to meow. Uses desc key for the description.

Defined in: get-help.ts:30

groups

• Optional groups: Record<string, { description?: string ; title?: string }>

Option groups shown in help text. Key is the first option in group.

Defined in: get-help.ts:40

lineLength

• Optional lineLength: number

Text longer than line length will be word-wrapped.

Defined in: get-help.ts:16

multilineThreshold

• Optional multilineThreshold: number

If space available for option descriptions is less than this threshold, descriptions are given their own rows. So they have more space. See images above.

Defined in: get-help.ts:34