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I love well-crafted CLI tooling. Multiple colors, space formatting, creative spinners, some emojis... I'm all in for these things. And while I enjoy these tiny details, there is so much more to consider when building a CLI interface.

  • When should you use stdout or stderr?
  • Which standard CLI parameters should you use?
  • How do you write an excellent help dialog?

The Command Line Interface Guidelines answer the above and many other questions. They are a beautiful guide on commonly used CLI best practices that's worth bookmarking.

Title screenshot: Command Line Interface guidelines

So, if you're building a CLI tool, check the included recommendations! I promise they will make your tool more useable and more delightful to use!

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About Stefan Judis

Frontend nerd with over ten years of experience, freelance dev, "Today I Learned" blogger, conference speaker, and Open Source maintainer.

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