prompts
❯ Prompts
Lightweight, beautiful and user-friendly interactive prompts >_ Easy to use CLI prompts to enquire users for information▌
Simple: prompts has no big dependencies nor is it broken into a dozen tiny modules that only work well together.
User friendly: prompt uses layout and colors to create beautiful cli interfaces.
Promised: uses promises and
async
/await
. No callback hell.Flexible: all prompts are independent and can be used on their own.
Testable: provides a way to submit answers programmatically.
Unified: consistent experience across all prompts.
❯ Install
This package supports Node 6 and above
❯ Usage
See
example.js
for more options.
❯ Examples
Single Prompt
Prompt with a single prompt object. Returns an object with the response.
Prompt Chain
Prompt with a list of prompt objects. Returns an object with the responses. Make sure to give each prompt a unique name
property to prevent overwriting values.
Dynamic Prompts
Prompt properties can be functions too. Prompt Objects with type
set to falsy
values are skipped.
❯ API
prompts(prompts, options)
Type: Function
Returns: Object
Prompter function which takes your prompt objects and returns an object with responses.
prompts
Type: Array|Object
Array of prompt objects. These are the questions the user will be prompted. You can see the list of supported prompt types here.
Prompts can be submitted (return, enter) or canceled (esc, abort, ctrl+c, ctrl+d). No property is being defined on the returned response object when a prompt is canceled.
options.onSubmit
Type: Function
Default: () => {}
Callback that's invoked after each prompt submission. Its signature is (prompt, answer, answers)
where prompt
is the current prompt object, answer
the user answer to the current question and answers
the user answers so far. Async functions are supported.
Return true
to quit the prompt chain and return all collected responses so far, otherwise continue to iterate prompt objects.
Example:
options.onCancel
Type: Function
Default: () => {}
Callback that's invoked when the user cancels/exits the prompt. Its signature is (prompt, answers)
where prompt
is the current prompt object and answers
the user answers so far. Async functions are supported.
Return true
to continue and prevent the prompt loop from aborting. On cancel responses collected so far are returned.
Example:
override
Type: Function
Preanswer questions by passing an object with answers to prompts.override
. Powerful when combined with arguments of process.
Example
inject(values)
Type: Function
Programmatically inject responses. This enables you to prepare the responses ahead of time. If any injected value is found the prompt is immediately resolved with the injected value. This feature is intended for testing only.
values
Type: Array
Array with values to inject. Resolved values are removed from the internal inject array. Each value can be an array of values in order to provide answers for a question asked multiple times. If a value is an instance of Error
it will simulate the user cancelling/exiting the prompt.
Example:
❯ Prompt Objects
Prompts Objects are JavaScript objects that define the "questions" and the type of prompt. Almost all prompt objects have the following properties:
Each property be of type function
and will be invoked right before prompting the user.
The function signature is (prev, values, prompt)
, where prev
is the value from the previous prompt, values
is the response object with all values collected so far and prompt
is the previous prompt object.
Function example:
The above prompt will be skipped if the value of the previous prompt is less than 3.
type
Type: String|Function
Defines the type of prompt to display. See the list of prompt types for valid values.
If type
is a falsy value the prompter will skip that question.
name
Type: String|Function
The response will be saved under this key/property in the returned response object. In case you have multiple prompts with the same name only the latest response will be stored.
Make sure to give prompts unique names if you don't want to overwrite previous values.
message
Type: String|Function
The message to be displayed to the user.
initial
Type: String|Function
Optional default prompt value. Async functions are supported too.
format
Type: Function
Receive the user input and return the formatted value to be used inside the program. The value returned will be added to the response object.
The function signature is (val, values)
, where val
is the value from the current prompt and values
is the current response object in case you need to format based on previous responses.
Example:
onRender
Type: Function
Callback for when the prompt is rendered. The function receives kleur as its first argument and this
refers to the current prompt.
Example:
onState
Type: Function
Callback for when the state of the current prompt changes. The function signature is (state)
where state
is an object with a snapshot of the current state. The state object has two properties value
and aborted
. E.g { value: 'This is ', aborted: false }
stdin and stdout
Type: Stream
By default, prompts uses process.stdin
for receiving input and process.stdout
for writing output. If you need to use different streams, for instance process.stderr
, you can set these with the stdin
and stdout
properties.
❯ Types
text(message, [initial], [style])
Text prompt for free text input.
Hit tab to autocomplete to initial
value when provided.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default string value |
style |
| Render style ( |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
validate |
| Receive user input. Should return |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
password(message, [initial])
Password prompt with masked input.
This prompt is a similar to a prompt of type 'text'
with style
set to 'password'
.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default string value |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
validate |
| Receive user input. Should return |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
invisible(message, [initial])
Prompts user for invisible text input.
This prompt is working like sudo
where the input is invisible. This prompt is a similar to a prompt of type 'text'
with style set to 'invisible'
.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default string value |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
validate |
| Receive user input. Should return |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
number(message, initial, [max], [min], [style])
Prompts user for number input.
You can type in numbers and use up/down to increase/decrease the value. Only numbers are allowed as input. Hit tab to autocomplete to initial
value when provided.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default number value |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
validate |
| Receive user input. Should return |
max |
| Max value. Defaults to |
min |
| Min value. Defaults to |
float |
| Allow floating point inputs. Defaults to |
round |
| Round |
increment |
| Increment step when using arrow keys. Defaults to |
style |
| Render style ( |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
confirm(message, [initial])
Classic yes/no prompt.
Hit y or n to confirm/reject.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default value. Default is |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
list(message, [initial])
List prompt that return an array.
Similar to the text
prompt, but the output is an Array
containing the string separated by separator
.
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default value |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
separator |
| String separator. Will trim all white-spaces from start and end of string. Defaults to |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
toggle(message, [initial], [active], [inactive])
Interactive toggle/switch prompt.
Use tab or arrow keys/tab/space to switch between options.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default value. Defaults to |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
active |
| Text for |
inactive |
| Text for |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
select(message, choices, [initial], [hint], [warn])
Interactive select prompt.
Use up/down to navigate. Use tab to cycle the list.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Index of default value |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
hint |
| Hint to display to the user |
warn |
| Message to display when selecting a disabled option |
choices |
| Array of strings or choices objects |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
↑ back to: Prompt types
multiselect(message, choices, [initial], [max], [hint], [warn])
autocompleteMultiselect(same)
Interactive multi-select prompt. Autocomplete is a searchable multiselect prompt with the same options. Useful for long lists.
Use space to toggle select/unselect and up/down to navigate. Use tab to cycle the list. You can also use right to select and left to deselect. By default this prompt returns an array
containing the values of the selected items - not their display title.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
instructions |
| Prompt instructions to display |
choices |
| Array of strings or choices objects |
optionsPerPage |
| Number of options displayed per page (default: 10) |
min |
| Min select - will display error |
max |
| Max select |
hint |
| Hint to display to the user |
warn |
| Message to display when selecting a disabled option |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
This is one of the few prompts that don't take a initial value. If you want to predefine selected values, give the choice object an selected
property of true
.
↑ back to: Prompt types
autocomplete(message, choices, [initial], [suggest], [limit], [style])
Interactive auto complete prompt.
The prompt will list options based on user input. Type to filter the list. Use ⇧/⇩ to navigate. Use tab to cycle the result. Use Page Up/Page Down (on Mac: fn + ⇧ / ⇩) to change page. Hit enter to select the highlighted item below the prompt.
The default suggests function is sorting based on the title
property of the choices. You can overwrite how choices are being filtered by passing your own suggest function.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
format |
| Receive user input. The returned value will be added to the response object |
choices |
| Array of auto-complete choices objects |
suggest |
| Filter function. Defaults to sort by |
limit |
| Max number of results to show. Defaults to |
style |
| Render style ( |
initial |
| Default initial value |
clearFirst |
| The first ESCAPE keypress will clear the input |
fallback |
| Fallback message when no match is found. Defaults to |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
Example on what a suggest
function might look like:
↑ back to: Prompt types
date(message, [initial], [warn])
Interactive date prompt.
Use left/right/tab to navigate. Use up/down to change date.
Example
Options
Param | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
message |
| Prompt message to display |
initial |
| Default date |
locales |
| Use to define custom locales. See below for an example. |
mask |
| The format mask of the date. See below for more information.
Default: |
validate |
| Receive user input. Should return |
onRender |
| On render callback. Keyword |
onState |
| On state change callback. Function signature is an |
Default locales:
Formatting: See full list of formatting options in the wiki
↑ back to: Prompt types
❯ Credit
Many of the prompts are based on the work of derhuerst.
❯ License
MIT © Terkel Gjervig
Last updated