---

name: design-cli-output locale: caveman-ultra source_locale: en source_commit: 2630b6e9 fence_basis_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 CLI.

Use When

• New reporter module → CLI
• Warm/narrative alongside transactional
• Std across commands
• JSON machine parallel to human
• Colors, glyphs, verbosity for new tool

In

• Required: CLI name + audience (devs, ops, end users)
• Required: Commands needing formatting
• Optional: Ceremony/narrative variant?
• Optional: Branding (palette, tone)

Do

Step 1: Color palette

chalk → named palette.

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

// 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') return undefined;   // must not be a thenable
      if (prop === 'level') return 0;          // no color support, truthfully
      if (typeof prop === 'symbol') return Reflect.get(target, prop);
      return FACTORIES.has(prop) ? () => makeChalkStub() : makeChalkStub();
    },
  });
}

let chalk;
try { chalk = (await import('chalk')).default; }
catch { chalk = makeChalkStub(); }

4 invariants, shorter stub gets each wrong:

1. Proxy target callable — (text) => text, not {}. Chain (chalk.bold.cyan('x')) → every hop indexable + callable.
2. Factories return fn. new Proxy({}, { get: () => (s) => s }) OK for direct styles, breaks factories: chalk.hex('#FF6B35') = string '#FF6B35', call it → TypeError: ... is not a function. Palettes built at module load → that fallback kills tool at import time — exactly where degrading to plain text was the point.
3. then = undefined. Stub answering every prop w/ fn → await chalk hangs forever: runtime calls .then, waits for callback nobody fires. Node: Detected unsettled top-level await, exit 13.
4. level = number. Capability gates read chalk.level >= 1; truthy stub opens them w/ no color behind.

Build palette from whichever obj survived that import.

Standard (transactional):

// Status colors
const ok = chalk.green;       // success
const fail = chalk.red;       // errors
const warn = chalk.yellow;    // warnings
const info = chalk.cyan;      // identifiers, names
const dim = chalk.dim;        // secondary info, paths
const bold = chalk.bold;      // headers

Warm (ceremony/narrative):

const C = {
  flame: chalk.hex('#FF6B35'),   // active elements, fire
  amber: chalk.hex('#FFB347'),   // arriving items, warm highlights
  spark: chalk.hex('#FFF4E0'),   // individual items (sparks/skills)
  ember: chalk.hex('#8B4513'),   // cold/dormant states
  warm:  chalk.hex('#D4A574'),   // neutral warm text
  dim:   chalk.dim,              // background, secondary
  fail:  chalk.red,              // errors stay red (honest)
};

Rules:

• Always no-color fallback + check it vs call shapes palette really uses — warm palette above near-all factories
• Hex for custom (chalk.hex('#FF6B35'))
• Fail/err → red regardless
• Name by semantic role not visual
• Share 1 stub across modules, no rebuild per import site → else same defect hunted + fixed in every copy

→ Palette obj w/ named entries + fallback that ran, not merely written.

If err: Exercise fallback path direct; palette = wrong place to find it broken. Stub in scope:

console.assert(chalk.dim('x') === 'x');            // direct style
console.assert(chalk.hex('#fff')('x') === 'x');    // factory — the usual defect
console.assert(chalk.bold.cyan('x') === 'x');      // chain
console.assert(chalk.level === 0);                 // capability gate stays shut
await chalk;                                       // must not hang

NO_COLOR=1 no cover this. It runs working chalk choosing no escapes; fallback runs chalk that failed import. 2 paths share no code. See More Ex → annotated prod stub, defect repro, runnable ver of checks above.

Step 2: Status indicators

Unicode glyphs or ASCII:

ASCII (max compat):

+  created/installed (green)
-  removed/deleted (red)
=  skipped/unchanged (dim)
!  error/warning (red)

Unicode (richer, UTF-8 term):

✦  item/skill/practice (spark)
◉  active/burning state
◎  cooling/embers state
○  cold/dormant state
◌  available/not installed
✗  failed item
✓  success (use sparingly — not all terminals render it well)

Criteria:

• ASCII → CI/piped
• Unicode → interactive
• Both via --ascii flag or NO_COLOR
• Test: macOS Terminal, Windows Terminal, VS Code, SSH

→ Glyph set communicates status at glance w/o color alone.

If err: Glyph renders ? or box → ASCII equiv. +/-/=/! works everywhere.

Step 3: Verbosity levels

Every cmd supports 4:

Level	Flag	Audience	Content
Default	(none)	Human at terminal	Formatted, colored, informative
Verbose	--verbose or --ceremonial	Human wanting detail	Per-item breakdown, arrival sequences
Quiet	--quiet	Scripts, CI	Minimal lines, status icons, no decoration
JSON	--json	Machine consumers	Structured, parseable, complete

Pattern:

function output(data, options) {
  if (options.json) {
    console.log(JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
    return;
  }
  if (options.quiet) {
    for (const item of data.items) {
      const icon = item.ok ? '+' : '!';
      console.log(`${icon} ${item.id}`);
    }
    return;
  }
  // Default (or verbose) human output
  printFormatted(data, { verbose: options.verbose });
}

JSON rules:

• Always valid (no mix w/ human text)
• Include all human data + machine fields
• Consistent keys across cmds
• Exit 0 success, 1 err (regardless of mode)

→ 4 clear levels, consistent behavior across cmds.

If err: Verbose too noisy → opt-in (--ceremonial) not graduated.

Step 4: Voice rules

Tone + style. Prevents inconsistency.

Ex (campfire reporter):

1. Present tense, active: "mystic arrives" not "mystic has been installed"
2. No exclamation: Quiet confidence.
3. Metaphor replaces jargon: "practices" not "dependencies" (ceremony only)
4. Failures honest, not catastrophic: "A spark was lost" not "ERROR: installation failed with exit code 1"
5. Closing line reflects state: Every op ends summary
6. No emoji: Unicode glyphs carry visual weight w/o decorative
7. Every word info: If no understanding → remove

Standard (non-ceremony):

• Concise, factual lines
• Status icon + item ID + ctx
• Summary line w/ counts
• Err msgs suggest actions

→ 3-7 voice rules output fns follow.

If err: Rules arbitrary → test. Write same output w/ + w/o rule. If no change → rule not needed.

Step 5: Reporter fns

Module w/ focused fns:

// reporter.js — standard output
export function printResults(results) { ... }
export function printItemTable(items) { ... }
export function printDetections(detections) { ... }
export function printAudit(auditResults) { ... }
export function printDryRun() { ... }
export function warn(msg) { ... }
export function error(msg) { ... }
export { chalk };

Each fn:

1. Handle empty/null gracefully
2. Compute layout (col widths, padding)
3. Output w/ palette
4. Summary line at bottom

Ceremony → separate module:

// campfire-reporter.js — warm narrative output
export function printArrival({ teamId, agents, results, ceremonial }) { ... }
export function printScatter({ teamId, agents, results }) { ... }
export function printTend(fires) { ... }
export function printCampfireList({ teams, state, reg }) { ... }
export function printFireSummary({ team, fireData, reg }) { ... }
export function printJson(data) { ... }

→ Independent fns, handle own formatting w/o caller state.

If err: Fn >~50 lines → extract helpers. Reviewable in isolation.

Step 6: Test across envs

# With colors (interactive terminal)
node cli/index.js list --domains

# Without colors (piped)
node cli/index.js list --domains | cat

# With NO_COLOR environment variable
NO_COLOR=1 node cli/index.js list --domains

# JSON mode (parseable)
node cli/index.js campfire --json | jq .

# In CI (typically no TTY)
CI=true node cli/index.js audit

# The no-color fallback. A failed import cannot be provoked with an env var, so
# assert on the stub itself in the suite rather than reaching it through the CLI.
# Pass a glob, not a directory: `node --test <dir>` stopped expanding at Node 22.
node --test 'cli/test/*.test.js'

Check:

• Colors in interactive
• No ANSI leaks in piped
• JSON valid (jq .)
• Unicode in target terminals
• Col align w/ varying widths
• No-color fallback answers every call shape palette uses, asserted in suite not hand-demoed once

→ Output correct in all 6 contexts.

If err: ANSI leaks → chalk respects NO_COLOR. Unicode breaks → ASCII fallback. Green suite says nothing about color either way: test runners pipe stdout → chalk.level 0 → colored + uncolored out byte-identical, assertions hold w/ color fully broken. Prove color works → FORCE_COLOR=3 + assert on escape seq.

Check

• Palette has no-color fallback + fallback ran: direct style, factory, chain, level === 0, await all checked
• Status indicators work color + no-color
• All 4 verbosity levels useful
• JSON valid + jq-parseable
• Voice rules docs + followed
• Reporter fns handle empty/null
• Tested: terminal, piped, NO_COLOR, CI

Traps

• No-color fallback covering direct styles only: new Proxy({}, { get: () => (s) => s }) reads complete, does cover chalk.dim + chalk.red, but every factory then returns string caller immediately tries to call. Palettes built at module load → TypeError lands at import time — fallback fails hardest in the 1 case it exists for. Step 1 lists 4 invariants stub must satisfy.
• Mix human + JSON: --json only valid JSON. Stray line ("DRY RUN") breaks parsers. Suppress human in JSON mode.
• Hardcoded col widths: Varies. Math.max(...items.map(i => i.id.length)) dyn.
• Color w/o meaning: Color-only → colorblind + piped lose info. Pair w/ text (+, OK, ERR).
• Ceremony wrong ctx: Interactive only. CI/scripts/--quiet = noise. Gate behind flags.
• Forget summary: Users scan last line first. 1-line summary (counts).

→

• scaffold-cli-command — cmds using this output
• test-cli-application — test output matches
• build-cli-plugin — plugins report results