cli-developer
Building CLI tools, implementing argument parsing, or adding interactive prompts
by jeffallanFree
Description
cli-developer is an agent skill from the jeffallan claude-skills collection that helps a coding agent build command-line tools, including argument parsing, subcommands, flags, configuration, progress bars and interactive prompts. Its workflow starts with the user experience: the agent lists the commands and their expected help output before writing any code. It then designs commands, checking that flag names are consistent and that no existing signatures break. When implementing, it uses the CLI framework appropriate for the language, and checks that the help and version output render correctly. In the polish stage it adds shell completions, help text, clear error messages and progress indicators, and verifies TTY detection for colour output and graceful handling of Ctrl-C. The testing stage runs cross-platform smoke tests and measures startup time, with a target under 50 milliseconds. The skill points to a reference guide with framework-specific advice. It is useful for developers who want a tool that is pleasant to use from the terminal and fast to start. It is listed on skills.sh, where the page shows install counts and GitHub stars for the collection. Its Gen Agent Trust Hub audit is marked as failing, which the FAQ lists, while Socket and Snyk pass. Install it with npx skills add https://github.com/jeffallan/claude-skills --skill cli-developer.…
Highlights
- Argument parsing and subcommands
- Help, version and completions
- TTY detection and graceful SIGINT
- Startup time target under 50 ms
- Cross-platform smoke tests
- Installs from skills.sh
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cli-developer FAQ
What does this skill help with?
Building command-line tools: argument parsing, subcommands, flags, configuration, progress indicators and interactive prompts.
What startup time does it aim for?
The workflow sets a target of under 50 milliseconds and benchmarks it.
Does it cover shell completion?
Yes. The polish step adds completions along with help text and error messages.
How do I install it?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/jeffallan/claude-skills --skill cli-developer.
What are the security audit results?
skills.sh lists three audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub Fail, Socket Pass and Snyk Pass. A Warn or Fail is worth reading before you install.
How popular is it?
The page shows about 4.7K installs, and the claude-skills repository has 11.9K GitHub stars.
What are the best cli-developer alternatives?
Popular alternatives to cli-developer include ccstatusline, cli-for-agents and github. See all cli-developer alternatives