meow

Overview

CLI app helper. A popular CLI package for Node.js with 133.6M monthly downloads.

Installation

npm install meow

Core API / Usage

npm install meow

./foo-app.js unicorns --rainbow

Common Patterns

Pattern 1

#!/usr/bin/env node
import meow from 'meow';
import foo from './lib/index.js';

const cli = meow(`
	Usage
	  $ foo <input>

	Options
	  --rainbow, -r  Include a rainbow

	Examples
	  $ foo unicorns --rainbow
	  🌈 unicorns 🌈
`, {
	importMeta: import.meta, // This is required
	flags: {
		rainbow: {
			type: 'boolean',
			shortFlag: 'r'
		}
	}
});
/*
{
	input: ['unicorns'],
	flags: {rainbow: true},
	...
}
*/

foo(cli.input.at(0), cli.flags);

Pattern 2

input: {
	isRequired: true
}

Pattern 3

if (!cli.command) {
	cli.showHelp(); // or showHelp(0), or a custom message, or a default command
}

Configuration

#!/usr/bin/env node
import meow from 'meow';
import foo from './lib/index.js';

const cli = meow(`
	Usage
	  $ foo <input>

	Options
	  --rainbow, -r  Include a rainbow

	Examples
	  $ foo unicorns --rainbow
	  🌈 unicorns 🌈
`, {
	importMeta: import.meta, // This is required
	flags: {
		rainbow: {
			type: 'boolean',
			shortFlag: 'r'
		}
	}
});
/*
{
	input: ['unicorns'],
	flags: {rainbow: true},
	...
}
*/

foo(cli.input.at(0), cli.flags);

Tips & Gotchas

• Supports both ESM (import) and CommonJS (require()).
• Current version: 14.1.0. Check the changelog when upgrading across major versions.