mskills cli-commands.instructions.md

CLI Command Instructions

Command Structure

All commands follow a consistent pattern using Commander.js:

import type { Command } from 'commander';
import chalk from 'chalk';

export function registerCommandName(program: Command) {
  program
    .command('command-name')
    .description('Brief description')
    .argument('[arg]', 'Argument description')
    .option('-f, --flag', 'Option description')
    .action(async (arg, options) => {
      try {
        // Implementation
        console.log(chalk.green('✓ Success message'));
      } catch (error: any) {
        console.error(chalk.red(`Error: ${error.message}`));
        process.exit(1);
      }
    });
}

User Feedback

• Success: Use chalk.green() with ✓ symbol

  console.log(chalk.green(`✓ Skill '${name}' added`));
  

• Errors: Use chalk.red() with descriptive messages

  console.error(chalk.red(`Error: ${error.message}`));
  process.exit(1);
  

• Info: Use chalk.cyan() for informational messages

• Spinners: Use ora for long-running operations

  const spinner = ora('Processing...').start();
  // do work
  spinner.succeed('Done');
  

Error Handling

• Always wrap command logic in try-catch blocks
• Exit with code 1 on errors: process.exit(1)
• Display user-friendly error messages, not stack traces

Command Registration

• Export a register*Command function that takes a Command instance
• All command registrations are imported and called in commands/index.ts
• Use descriptive command names that match CLI usage

Testing Commands

• Mock chalk, ora, and file system operations
• Test both success and error paths
• Verify correct exit codes on errors