CLI/Guidelines

• Command Line Interface Guidelines

  • An open-source guide to writing better command-line programs, adapting traditional Unix conventions for modern CLI design.

  • Scope

    • Covers help text, documentation, output, errors, arguments and flags, interactivity, subcommands, robustness, future-proofing, signals, configuration, environment variables, naming, distribution, and analytics.

  • Maintainer

    • Written by Aanand Prasad, Ben Firshman, Carl Tashian, and Eva Parish; design by Mark Hurrell.
    • Source: cli-guidelines/cli-guidelines

  • Further reading (per clig.dev)

    • Person/Jeff Dickey/Blog/18/10/09/12 Factor CLI Apps
    • Person/Brian Kernighan and Person/Rob Pike, The Unix Programming Environment — see also Unix/Philosophy
    • POSIX Utility Conventions
    • GNU Coding Standards: Program Behavior
    • Heroku CLI Style Guide