Weaver

An ergonomic command-line argument parser for the Roc language.

This library aims to provide a convenient interface for parsing CLI arguments into structured data, in the style of Rust's clap. Without code generation at compile time, the closest we can get in Roc is the use of the record builder syntax. This allows us to build our config and parser at the same time, in a type-safe way!

Read the documentation at https://smores56.github.io/weaver/Cli/.

Status

This library should be ready for usage already, but I'm always looking for more testing from the community! Feel free to open a GitHub issue if there's a feature you're missing from another CLI parsing library that you think would fit well in Weaver's nest.

Example

app [main] {
    pf: platform "https://github.com/roc-lang/basic-cli/releases/download/0.10.0/vNe6s9hWzoTZtFmNkvEICPErI9ptji_ySjicO6CkucY.tar.br",
    weaver: "https://github.com/smores56/weaver/releases/download/0.2.0/BBDPvzgGrYp-AhIDw0qmwxT0pWZIQP_7KOrUrZfp_xw.tar.br",
}

import pf.Stdout
import pf.Arg
import pf.Task exposing [Task]
import weaver.Opt
import weaver.Cli
import weaver.Param

main =
    args = Arg.list!

    when Cli.parseOrDisplayMessage cliParser args is
        Ok data ->
            Stdout.line! "Successfully parsed! Here's what I got:"
            Stdout.line! ""
            Stdout.line! (Inspect.toStr data)

        Err message ->
            Stdout.line! message

            Task.err (Exit 1 "")

cliParser =
    Cli.weave {
        alpha: <- Opt.u64 { short: "a", help: "Set the alpha level." },
        force: <- Opt.flag { short: "f", help: "Force the task to complete." },
        file: <- Param.maybeStr { name: "file", help: "The file to process." },
        files: <- Param.strList { name: "files", help: "The rest of the files." },
    }
    |> Cli.finish {
        name: "basic",
        version: "v0.1.0",
        authors: ["Some One <some.one@mail.com>"],
        description: "This is a basic example of what you can build with Weaver. You get safe parsing, useful error messages, and help pages all for free!",
    }
    |> Cli.assertValid

And here's us calling the above example from the command line:

$ roc examples/basic.roc -- file1.txt file2.txt -f -a 123
Successfully parsed! Here's what I got:

{alpha: 123, file: (Ok "file1.txt"), files: ["file2.txt"], force: Bool.true}

$ roc readme.roc -- --help
basic v0.0.1
Some One <some.one@mail.com>

This is a basic example of what you can build with Weaver. You get safe parsing, useful error messages, and help pages all for free!

Usage:
  basic -a NUM [options] <file> <files...>

Arguments:
  <file>      The file to process.
  <files...>  The rest of the files.

Options:
  -a NUM         Set the alpha level.
  -f             Force the task to complete.
  -h, --help     Show this help page.
  -V, --version  Show the version.

There are also some examples in the examples directory that are more feature-complete, with more to come as this library matures.

Roadmap

Now that an initial release has happened, these are some ideas I have for future development:

• Set default values in the arguments themselves
• Optionally set { group : Str } per option so they are visually grouped in the help page
• Completion generation for popular shells (e.g. Bash, Zsh, Fish, etc.)
• Add terminal escape sequences to generated messages for prettier help/usage text formatting
• add convenient Task helpers (e.g. parse or print help and exit) once module params land
• Clean up default parameter code if we can elide different fields on the same record type in different places (not currently allowed)
• Add more testing (always)