cliify

name	cliify
description	Use when wrapping CLI binaries in JavaScript, automating shell workflows in TypeScript, composing multiple CLIs into scripts, or building agent tool-use. Covers convertCliToJs, $command, $validate, $spawn, script(), .text()/.lines()/.json() output parsing.

cliify

You are using cliify to turn CLI binaries into callable JavaScript APIs.

REQUIRED for every cliify usage:

1. Call convertCliToJs("binary") once, reuse the returned API
2. Use .text(), .lines(), or .json() for typed output — never manually split result.stdout
3. Use $validate before executing when inputs come from untrusted sources
4. Use $spawn + for await for streaming — never callbacks unless specifically asked

Flag mapping

// JS option key            → CLI output
// { verbose: true }        → --verbose
// { verbose: false }       → (omitted)
// { output: "file.txt" }   → --output file.txt
// { dryRun: true }         → --dry-run
// { v: true }              → -v
// { include: ["a", "b"] }  → --include a --include b
// { _: ["file.txt"] }      → file.txt

API quick reference

import { convertCliToJs, script } from "cliify";
const tool = await convertCliToJs("binary-name");

// Run + typed output
await tool.subcommand({ flag: "val", _: ["pos"] }).text();
await tool.subcommand({ json: true }).json<MyType>();
await tool.subcommand().lines();

// Streaming
for await (const line of tool.$spawn.subcommand({ watch: true })) {
}

// Validation (did-you-mean, choices, required flags, exclusive flags)
const errors = tool.$validate({ misspeled: true });

// Shell string without executing
tool.$command.subcommand({ flag: "val" });
// → "binary-name subcommand --flag val"

// Compose into runnable script
const deploy = script(git.$command.push(), docker.$command.build({ tag: "app", _: ["."] }));
deploy.run(); // execute with &&
console.log(`${deploy}`); // get the string

When building tools

Bad:

const result = await api.status();
const lines = result.stdout.trim().split("\n");

Good:

const statusLines = await api.status().lines();

Bad:

const api1 = await convertCliToJs("git");
const api2 = await convertCliToJs("git"); // wasteful duplicate

Good:

const git = await convertCliToJs("git");
// reuse git everywhere

Bad:

await api.commit({ mesage: "fix" }); // typo silently becomes unknown flag

Good:

const errors = api.$validate({ mesage: "fix" });
// [{ kind: "unknown-flag", suggestion: "message" }]
if (errors.length > 0) throw new Error(errors[0].message);
await api.commit({ message: "fix" });

Multi-CLI workflow pattern

const git = await convertCliToJs("git");
const claude = await convertCliToJs("claude");

const files = await git.diff({ nameOnly: true, _: ["HEAD~1"] }).lines();

for (const file of files) {
  const review = await claude({
    print: true,
    model: "sonnet",
    _: [`Review ${file} for bugs`],
  }).text();

  if (review.includes("no issues")) continue;
  console.log(`${file}: ${review}`);
}

Full API surface

Method	Returns	Use for
api.sub(opts)	CommandPromise	Run subcommand
.text()	Promise<string>	Trimmed stdout
.lines()	Promise<string[]>	Split by newlines
.json<T>()	Promise<T>	Parse JSON output
api.$spawn.sub(opts)	CommandProcess	for await streaming
api.$command.sub(opts)	string	Shell string, no execution
api.$validate(opts)	ValidationError[]	Pre-flight flag checking
api.$validate("sub", opts)	ValidationError[]	Subcommand flag checking
api.$schema	CliSchema	Parsed schema from --help
api.$parse("sub")	ParsedCommand	Lazily enrich subcommand
script(...cmds)	{ run, toString }	Compose && chain