# yargs-interactive > Build interactive command line tools without worring to parse the arguments (or ask them). Latest version **3.0.1** (published 2022-04-24) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads ## Install ```sh npm install yargs-interactive pnpm add yargs-interactive yarn add yargs-interactive bun add yargs-interactive ``` ## Health **Score 23/100 (F)** — status: abandoned. Positive: has types package; no vulnerabilities; high quality score. Warnings: low downloads; no esm support. Negative: abandoned; low maintenance score. ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Version | 3.0.1 | | Published | 2022-04-24 | | First published | 2017-11-27 | | Weekly downloads | 0 | | License | MIT | | TypeScript types | separate (@types/yargs-interactive) | | Module format | CommonJS | | Node | >=8 | | Dependencies | 2 | | Unpacked size | 15.1 KB | | Known vulnerabilities | 0 | | Install scripts | no | | GitHub stars | 46 | | Author | nanovazquez | | Maintainers | nanovazquez | | Keywords | yargs, interactive, cli, arguments, args, prompt, inquirer | ## Links - npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/yargs-interactive - Repository: https://github.com/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive - Homepage: https://github.com/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive#readme - Issues: https://github.com/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive/issues - npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/yargs-interactive ## Dependencies (2) - [yargs](https://npm.io/package/yargs.md) ^14.0.0 - [inquirer](https://npm.io/package/inquirer.md) ^7.0.0 ## Alternatives - [@salesforce/cli](https://npm.io/package/@salesforce/cli.md) — 389.7K weekly downloads - [@mintlify/cli](https://npm.io/package/@mintlify/cli.md) — 208.9K weekly downloads - [@grafana/e2e-selectors](https://npm.io/package/@grafana/e2e-selectors.md) — 128.7K weekly downloads - [mintlify](https://npm.io/package/mintlify.md) — 112.0K weekly downloads - [@intlayer/cli](https://npm.io/package/@intlayer/cli.md) — 22.8K weekly downloads ## Recent versions - 3.0.1 (latest) — 2022-04-24 - 3.0.0 — 2019-08-28 - 2.2.0 — 2019-08-27 - 2.1.0 — 2019-04-04 - 2.0.2 — 2019-03-20 - 2.0.1 — 2018-07-10 - 2.0.0 — 2018-05-05 - 1.1.1 — 2018-03-03 - 1.1.0 — 2018-01-15 - 1.0.1 — 2017-11-28 - 1.0.0 — 2017-11-27 ## README # Yargs Interactive [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive) [![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/github/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive/badge.svg)](https://coveralls.io/github/nanovazquez/yargs-interactive) [![semantic-release](https://img.shields.io/badge/%20%20%F0%9F%93%A6%F0%9F%9A%80-semantic--release-e10079.svg)](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release) [![npm](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/yargs-interactive.svg?style=flat)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/yargs-interactive) [![npm](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/yargs-interactive.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/yargs-interactive) [_Read the blog post_](https://medium.com/@nanovazquez/yargs-interactive-create-cli-tools-for-humans-and-non-humans-f9419f5cbd9e) Interactive (prompt) support for [yargs](https://github.com/yargs/yargs), based on [inquirer](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/). Useful for using the same CLI for both for humans and non-humans (like CI tools). Also supports mixed mode (yay!). ![Yargs Interactive](./assets/yargs-interactive-logo.png) This tool helps you to build command line tools without worring to parse arguments, or develop the logic to ask them. ## Installation ``` npm install -S yargs-interactive ``` Then, add this code in your CLI code to get all the arguments parsed: ```js #!/usr/bin/env node const yargsInteractive = require("yargs-interactive"); const options = { name: { type: "input", default: "A robot", describe: "Enter your name" }, likesPizza: { type: "confirm", default: false, describe: "Do you like pizza?" } }; yargsInteractive() .usage("$0 [args]") .interactive(options) .then(result => { // Your business logic goes here. // Get the arguments from the result // e.g. myCli(result.name); console.log(`\nResult is:\n` + `- Name: ${result.name}\n` + `- Likes pizza: ${result.likesPizza}\n`); }); ``` Now, by simply wrapping your CLI code with this tool, you'll get all the information you need from the user. For instance, save the previous snipped in a file named _my-cli.js_ and run it in your terminal: ``` ➜ node my-cli.js --interactive ``` ![Basic usage](./assets/basic-usage.gif) > **Note:** See other CLI examples [in this folder](./examples). ## Usage It supports the following use cases - [Prompt all questions](#prompt-questions-with-default-values-full-interactive) - [Prompt some questions (mixed mode)](#prompt-just-some-questions-mixed-mode) - [No prompt at all (ye olde yargs)](#no-prompt-at-all-ye-olde-yargs) ### Prompt questions (full-interactive) **my-cli.js** ```js const yargsInteractive = require("yargs-interactive"); const options = { name: { type: "input", describe: "Enter your name" }, likesPizza: { type: "confirm", describe: "Do you like pizza?" } }; yargsInteractive() .usage("$0 [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 ``` ![](./assets/interactive-with-parameter.gif) If you want to **use interactive mode always**, avoiding the need of sending it as an argument, set the `--interactive` parameter to `true` by default: ```js const options = { interactive: { default: true }, ... }; yargsInteractive() .usage('$0 [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 ``` ### Options | Property | Type | Description | | -------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | type | string | _(Required)_ The type of the option to prompt (e.g. `input`, `confirm`, etc.). **We provide all prompt types supported by [Inquirer](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/#prompt-types).** | | describe | string | _(Required)_ The message to display when prompting the option (e.g. `Do you like pizza?`) | | default | any | The default value of the option. | | prompt | string | _(Default is `if-empty`)_ Property to decide whether to prompt the option or not. Possible values: `always`, `never`, `if-no-arg` (prompts if the option was not sent via command line parameters) and `if-empty` (prompts if the value was not sent via command line parameters and it doesn't have a default property). | ### Prompt some questions (mixed mode) You can opt-out options from interactive mode by setting the `prompt` property to `never`. By default, its value is `if-empty`, prompting the question to the user if the value was not set via command line parameters, or if it doesn't have a default property. Setting it to `if-no-arg` will prompt the question if no argument is provided. Lastly, you can use `always` to _always prompt the option_. **my-cli.js** ```js const yargsInteractive = require("yargs-interactive"); const options = { name: { // prompt property, if not set, defaults to 'if-empty' // In this case, it means the question will be prompted // if it is not provided by args, as it doesn't have a default value. type: "input", describe: "Enter your name" }, likesPizza: { type: "confirm", default: false, describe: "Do you like pizza?", prompt: "never" // because everyone likes pizza } }; yargsInteractive() .usage("$0 [args]") .interactive(options) .then(result => { // The tool will prompt questions output the answers. // You can opt-out options by using `prompt: 'never'`. 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 --interactive ``` Notice that if you enter `node my-cli.js --name='Johh' --interactive` name won't be prompted either (as by default it uses `if-empty`). ### No prompt at all (ye olde yargs) **my-cli.js** ```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 [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 ``` --- _Source: https://npm.io/package/yargs-interactive · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. 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