A Swift framework for crafting composable and type-safe command line interfaces.
Commander is a Swift framework for building command-line interfaces (CLIs) with a focus on composability and type safety. It allows developers to define commands, arguments, and options in a declarative way, automatically handling argument conversion and validation. The framework simplifies creating professional CLI tools by providing a structured API and auto-generated help.
Swift developers building command-line tools, scripts, or utilities for macOS or Linux environments. It's particularly useful for those who need a robust, type-safe alternative to manual argument parsing.
Developers choose Commander for its elegant, protocol-driven design that ensures type safety and reduces boilerplate. Its composable command groups and descriptive argument descriptors make it easy to create user-friendly CLIs with auto-generated help, setting it apart from basic parsing solutions.
Compose beautiful command line interfaces in Swift
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.
Automatically converts command-line arguments to Swift types like Int or String, with built-in validation and user-friendly error messages, as demonstrated in the README's examples for reducing parsing boilerplate.
Enables logical organization of multiple commands into hierarchies, improving CLI structure and UX, shown in the Group example where login and logout commands are neatly grouped under 'auth'.
Descriptive argument descriptors for options and flags automatically produce help text, reducing manual documentation effort, as illustrated in the --help output examples.
Built around core protocols like ArgumentConvertible, allowing easy customization and extension for custom types, mentioned in the README for adding support beyond built-in types.
Requires managing frameworks, rpath settings, and dynamic linking, as detailed in the installation section, which can be cumbersome for distributing binaries across systems.
Tied exclusively to Swift and its toolchain, limiting use in environments where Swift is not installed or where multi-language CLI tools are needed.
Arguments must be described after options and flags to avoid parsing ambiguities, adding complexity and potential errors in command definition, as noted in the README warning.