design-cli-output

name	design-cli-output
locale	caveman
source_locale	en
source_commit	2630b6e9
translator	Julius Brussee homage — caveman
translation_date	2026-07-30
description	Design terminal output for a CLI tool with chalk colors, Unicode glyphs, multiple verbosity levels (human, verbose, quiet, JSON), and consistent voice rules. Covers color palette selection, status indicator design, reporter function architecture, ceremony/narrative output variants, and cross-terminal compatibility. Use when building a new CLI reporter module, adding warm narrative output to an existing tool, standardizing output across multiple commands, or designing machine-readable JSON alongside human-readable text.
license	MIT
allowed-tools	Read Write Edit Bash Grep Glob
metadata	{"author":"Philipp Thoss","version":"1.0","domain":"cli","complexity":"basic","language":"TypeScript","tags":["cli","terminal","ux","chalk","unicode"]}

Design CLI Output

Consistent, multi-level terminal output for a command-line tool.

When Use

• Build new reporter module for CLI tool
• Add warm or narrative output alongside transactional output
• Standardize output format across many commands
• Design JSON machine output parallel to human output
• Pick colors, glyphs, verbosity levels for new terminal tool

Inputs

• Required: CLI tool name + primary audience (devs, operators, end users)
• Required: Commands that need output formatting
• Optional: Ceremony/narrative output variant wanted?
• Optional: Brand constraints (color palette, tone)

Steps

Step 1: Set Color Palette

Use chalk. Make named palette object.

Load chalk behind no-color fallback. Fallback must stand in for every call shape palette uses — more than passing strings through:

// A factory returns a *function*; a direct style returns a string. Enumerate
// this list against the installed chalk, not from memory — chalk 6 added the
// three underline* variants, and a list that omits them is wrong for those names.
const FACTORIES = new Set(['ansi256', 'bgAnsi256', 'bgHex', 'bgRgb', 'hex',
  'rgb', 'underlineAnsi256', 'underlineHex', 'underlineRgb']);

function makeChalkStub() {
  return new Proxy((text) => text, {
    get(target, prop) {
      if (prop === 'then')  ;   
       (prop === )  ;          
       ( prop === )  .(target, prop);
       .(prop) ?  () : ();
    },
  });
}

 chalk;
 { chalk = ( ()).; }
 { chalk = (); }