commander

Complete solution for Node.js command-line interfaces — parse arguments, generate help text, and build complex CLI tools with subcommands.

commander

General JS

Complete solution for Node.js command-line interfaces — parse arguments, generate help text, and build complex CLI tools with subcommands.

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Fit

Bundle (gzip)

11.1 kB

39.3 kB raw

Install size includes transitive dependencies. Bundle size is gzipped browser payload.

Freshness

The Problem

Parsing CLI arguments manually with process.argv is tedious and error-prone. Handling flags, options, subcommands, variadic arguments, and generating consistent --help output requires significant boilerplate.

What It Does

Commander lets you declare commands, options (with short/long forms), required/optional arguments, and default values declaratively. It generates --help and --version output automatically, validates required options, and supports nested subcommands for complex CLIs.

Installation

bash
npm install commander

Usage Example

typescript
import { program } from 'commander';

program
  .name('deploy')
  .description('Deploy your app to production')
  .version('1.0.0');

program
  .command('push <environment>')
  .description('Push to an environment')
  .option('-f, --force', 'Force deployment even with warnings')
  .option('--tag <tag>', 'Docker image tag', 'latest')
  .action((environment, options) => {
    console.log(`Deploying to ${environment} with tag ${options.tag}`);
    if (options.force) console.log('Force mode enabled');
  });

program.parse(process.argv);

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