Introduction

clif is a tiny, zero-dependency CLI framework for Node.js. It replaces the need for commander, chalk, inquirer, ora, and cli-table3 — all in a single, composable package under 15 KB gzipped.

Why clif?

Building CLI tools in Node.js typically means pulling in a constellation of packages:

• commander or yargs for argument parsing
• chalk or kleur for colors
• inquirer or prompts for interactive input
• ora for spinners
• cli-progress for progress bars
• cli-table3 for tables

Each comes with its own API patterns, version constraints, and transitive dependencies. clif unifies all of this into one package with zero dependencies.

Design principles

• Zero dependencies — nothing in node_modules except clif itself
• Composable — every function is standalone, pure where possible, and returns strings
• Tree-shakeable — import only what you need via clif or clif/prompts
• Fast — no startup overhead, no config parsing, no plugin system
• Type-safe — full TypeScript with strict types throughout
• Testable — output components return strings, making unit testing trivial
• Respectful — honors NO_COLOR, FORCE_COLOR, pipe detection, and terminal width

What’s included

Module	Replaces	Description
Colors	chalk, kleur	Full ANSI palette, 256-color, truecolor, hex, compose
Args	commander, yargs	Flag parsing, types, aliases, choices, defaults
Commands	commander	Nested subcommands, setup hooks, auto-help
Box	boxen	Bordered boxes with 5 styles, titles, alignment
Table	cli-table3	Column-aligned tables with headers and borders
List / Tree	—	Ordered/unordered lists, recursive tree rendering
Spinner	ora	Animated spinner with succeed/fail/warn states
Progress	cli-progress	Progress bar with customizable format
Prompts	inquirer, prompts	text, password, confirm, select, multiselect, number