A tiny CLI framework for writing Node JS command line tools or scripts. It provides a simple way to handle non-positional arguments using a flag based system.

tiny-cli.js

const { execSync } = require('child_process');

const args = {};
const argv = process.argv.slice(2);
if (argv.length === 0) usage();
argv.forEach((arg, i) => args[arg] = argv[i + 1]);

// Every flag must have a value even if it's not being used
// Instead of a boolean --version you might use `-v true`
const inputFileName = args['-i'];
const outputFileName = args['-o'];

function usage() {
  console.log('Usage: node tiny-cli.js -i <input filename> -o <output filename>');
  console.log('Example: node tiny-cli.js -i in.md -o out.pdf');
  process.exit(0);
}

function verifyArg(arg) {
  // override this function with your own validation
  return true;
}

if (!verifyArg(inputFilename)) {
  console.error('Please verify your input filename');
  process.exit(1);  
}

if (!verifyArg(outputFilename)) {
  console.error('Please verify your output filename');
  process.exit(1);
}

console.log('Do some work');
const directoryListing = execSync('ls /home/foobar');
console.log(directoryListing);