Command-line interface

lastmod 2026-04-17created 2015-10-2811 edits

A command-line interface (CLI, Command line interface), or command interface, is a way for users and computers to interact through a text terminal. That is, the user enters commands as strings through the computer keyboard or similar, and the computer's output is likewise given as strings. The command-line interface dates back to the 1950s, when teletypewriters were connected to and used with computers. Because it allowed immediate interaction and feedback, it was considered an advance over punched cards.

Categories

• AWS CLI

AI Agents

• Gemini CLI
• Claude CLI

Projects

• Fang (go) - CLI starter kit
• Cobra - Powerful Go-based library for building CLI apps
• Pueue - Tool that processes command-line commands as a queue
• Gluegun - Toolkit for building Node-based command-line tools (CLI) quickly and easily
• VHS - Your CLI home video recorder 📼
• Gooey - Turns command-line programs into GUI applications
• Typer - Typer, build great CLIs. Easy to code. Based on Python type hints.

See also

• User Interface
• Argc - Powerful Bash-based CLI build framework
• attempt - CLI that retries commands that may fail

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) description of CLI
• [Recommended] Command-Line Interface Guidelines ¹
  • [Original] Command Line Interface Guidelines
• Building an internal CLI for your company | GeekNews
  • [Original] Create an internal CLI | blog.chay.dev

References