ex_cli
A DSL for building user-friendly command-line applications in Elixir with automatic help generation.
What is ex_cli?
ExCLI is an Elixir library for building command-line applications with a focus on user-friendliness and developer productivity. It provides a domain-specific language (DSL) to define commands, options, and arguments, automatically generating help text and usage instructions. It solves the problem of creating structured, maintainable CLIs without repetitive boilerplate code.
Elixir developers who need to build command-line tools, Mix tasks, or standalone executables for their applications or systems.
Developers choose ExCLI for its elegant DSL that reduces complexity, its seamless integration with Mix and escripts, and its automatic generation of professional help documentation, saving time and ensuring consistency.
Overview
User friendly CLI apps for Elixir
Use Cases
Best For
- Creating Mix tasks with built-in help and argument parsing
- Building standalone CLI tools as escripts in Elixir
- Defining complex command hierarchies with subcommands
- Rapid prototyping of command-line interfaces
- Generating user-friendly help text automatically
- Structuring CLI applications with aliases and options
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring mature, production-ready CLI libraries with complete feature sets like man page generation or help commands
- Teams building CLIs in languages other than Elixir, as it's language-specific
- Applications needing advanced interactive features such as shell completion or complex input validation
- Environments where minimal dependencies are critical, since ExCLI adds a library overhead
Pros & Cons
Pros
The clean DSL reduces boilerplate by allowing intuitive definition of commands, options, and arguments, as shown in the README example with commands like :hello and options like :verbose.
It generates formatted usage instructions and command descriptions automatically, saving manual effort—evident from the usage output when parsing fails.
ExCLI integrates directly with Elixir's Mix tasks and escripts, enabling the same CLI definitions for both, as demonstrated in the integration sections.
Supports short aliases for commands and provides a context object with parsed data, improving user experience and developer access, like using 'hi' as an alias for 'hello'.
Cons
At version 0.1.0, it's early-stage; the roadmap admits missing features like a help command and man page generation, limiting production readiness.
As an Elixir-specific library, it lacks the extensive community support and plugins found in more established CLI frameworks for other languages.
Early development stages mean API instability, with future updates possibly requiring code changes in dependent projects, as noted in the versioning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
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owlA toolkit for writing command-line user interfaces.
progress_barCommand-line progress bars and spinners for Elixir.
scribePretty-print tables of Elixir structs and maps.
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