Benday.CommandsFramework.Tui 5.1.0

Benday.CommandsFramework

A .NET framework for building command-line interface (CLI) utilities. Define named commands with typed, validated arguments using a fluent API, and wire up dependency injection and configuration with minimal boilerplate.

About

Written by Benjamin Day<br> Pluralsight Author | Microsoft MVP | Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainer<br> https://www.benday.com
https://www.honestcheetah.com
info@benday.com

Got ideas for features you'd like to see? Found a bug? Let us know by submitting an issue. Want to contribute? Submit a pull request.

Source code
API Documentation
NuGet Package

Features

• Named commands with descriptions and categories
• POSIX argument syntax — --name value, --name=value, --name:value, -n value and --flag
• Typed arguments: String, Boolean, Int32, DateTime, File, Directory
• Fluent argument definition API with required/optional, default values, and allowed values
• Automatic argument parsing and validation
• Built-in --help usage display that reports each argument's default value
• Command name aliases, including aliases that supply preset argument values
• Reuse command logic by running one command from inside another
• Dependency injection support
• Configuration from JSON files, environment variables, and custom sources
• Arguments that pull values from configuration via FromConfig()
• Async command support
• --json schema output for tooling integration
• gui command to launch a web UI via Benday.CommandsFramework.CmdUi
• tui command for an in-process terminal UI via Benday.CommandsFramework.Tui

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Getting Started
  • 1. Create a Command
  • 2. Set Up Program.cs
  • 3. Run It
• Argument Types
  • Argument Syntax
  • Positional Arguments
  • Argument Aliases
  • Friendly Names
  • File and Directory Existence
• Default Values
• Command Aliases
  • Short Names
  • Aliases That Supply Argument Values
• Reusing Command Logic
• Configuration
  • JSON Files and Environment Variables
  • Custom Configuration Sources
  • Config-Backed Arguments
• Dependency Injection
• Async Commands
• CommandsApp Builder Reference
• Stored Configuration
• Finding a Value Instead of Asking for It
• Argument Rules
• Multi-level Commands
• Output Channels
• Reporting Progress
• Prompting for Input
• Shell Completion
• Terminal UI
• Data Formatting Utilities
  • TableFormatter
  • CsvReader
  • CsvWriter
• Built-in Keywords
• About

Installation

dotnet add package Benday.CommandsFramework

Getting Started

1. Create a Command

Commands inherit from Command (or DependencyInjectionCommand when they need dependency injection). Use the [Command] attribute to define the command name and description.

There is one base class. A command whose work is sequential returns Task.CompletedTask; anything that touches the network needs an async environment anyway.

using Benday.CommandsFramework;

[Command(Name = "greet",
    Description = "Says hello to someone",
    Category = "Demo")]
public class GreetCommand : Command
{
    public GreetCommand(CommandExecutionInfo info, ITextOutputProvider outputProvider)
        : base(info, outputProvider) { }

    public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
    {
        var args = new ArgumentCollection();

        args.AddString("name").AsRequired().WithDescription("Name of the person to greet");
        args.AddBoolean("loud").AsNotRequired().AllowEmptyValue().WithDescription("Greet loudly");

        return args;
    }

    protected override Task OnExecute(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        var name = Arguments.GetStringValue("name");
        var loud = Arguments.GetBooleanValue("loud");

        var message = $"Hello, {name}!";
        WriteLine(loud ? message.ToUpper() : message);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

2. Set Up Program.cs

The whole of Program.cs can be one line. Commands are discovered in the entry assembly, and the application name, version and website come from that assembly's own metadata.

using Benday.CommandsFramework;

return await CommandsApp.RunAsync(args);

RunAsync returns the exit code and also sets Environment.ExitCode, so a static async Task<int> Main works either way.

When your commands live in a different assembly than the executable, name any type from that assembly:

await CommandsApp.RunAsync<GreetCommand>(args);

Use the CommandsApp builder when you need to configure anything — dependency injection, configuration sources, or how usage is displayed. Pass any command type from your assembly to Create<T>() — the framework discovers all [Command]-attributed classes in that assembly.

using Benday.CommandsFramework;

return await CommandsApp
    .Create<GreetCommand>(args)
    .WithAppInfo("My CLI Tool", "https://www.example.com")
    .WithVersionFromAssembly()
    .RunAsync();

Create(args) with no type argument does the same thing using the entry assembly, and WithAppInfoFromAssembly() fills in whichever of name, version and website you have not set yourself. A value that is never set is simply left out of the usage header rather than printing as a blank line.

3. Run It

dotnet run -- greet --name World
# Output: Hello, World!

dotnet run -- greet --name World --loud
# Output: HELLO, WORLD!

dotnet run -- greet --help
# Output: Usage information for the greet command

Argument Types

Define arguments using the fluent API in GetArguments():

public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
{
    var args = new ArgumentCollection();

    args.AddString("name").AsRequired().WithDescription("Your name");
    args.AddInt32("count").AsRequired().WithDescription("Number of times");
    args.AddBoolean("verbose").AsNotRequired().AllowEmptyValue();
    args.AddDateTime("start-date").AsRequired().WithDescription("Start date");
    args.AddFile("input").AsRequired().WithDescription("Input file path");
    args.AddDirectory("output-dir").AsNotRequired().WithDescription("Output directory");

    // Restrict to specific values
    args.AddString("format").AsRequired().WithAllowedValues("json", "xml", "csv");

    // Set a default value
    args.AddString("env").AsNotRequired().WithDefaultValue("production");

    return args;
}

Argument Syntax

Arguments use the POSIX long option form that git, docker, the dotnet CLI and anything built on System.CommandLine use. A value can be separated from its name by a space, an = or a : — all three are equivalent:

mytool deploy --environment production
mytool deploy --environment=production
mytool deploy --environment:production

A boolean argument declared with AllowEmptyValue() is a flag, and is typed on its own:

mytool deploy --verbose

An argument alias can be typed with a single dash, which is how you get short options:

args.AddString("environment").WithAlias("e");

mytool deploy -e production
mytool deploy -e=production

Everything after a bare -- is a value rather than an option, which is how you pass a value that starts with a dash:

mytool commit -- --not-an-option

Argument names are matched without regard to case, so --verbose, --Verbose, and --VERBOSE all reach the same argument. Argument values keep their case — only names are case-insensitive.

The deprecated /name:value syntax

Before v5.1 the only syntax was /name:value, with /name for flags. It still parses, and using it prints a deprecation warning on the diagnostic channel. Select what your tool accepts with ArgumentSyntax:

var options = new DefaultProgramOptions
{
    ArgumentSyntax = ArgumentSyntax.Both   // the default
};

Value	Accepts	Renders	Warns
Both (default)	POSIX and slash	POSIX	on a slash argument
Posix	POSIX only	POSIX	n/a
Slash	slash only	slash	no

Usage output, shell completion and validation messages all render whichever syntax the program accepts, so a tool never tells you to type something its parser will reject. Set WarnOnDeprecatedArgumentSyntax = false to keep existing scripts quiet while you migrate them.

The syntax a tool accepts travels in the --json schema as ArgumentSyntax, which is how cmdui knows how to build a command line for it.

Positional Arguments

Use FromPositionalArgument(n) to read a value from its position on the command line instead of making the user type the argument name. Positions start at 1 and count the bare values that follow the command name:

public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
{
    var args = new ArgumentCollection();

    args.AddString("source").AsRequired()
        .WithDescription("Source file")
        .FromPositionalArgument(1);

    args.AddString("destination").AsNotRequired()
        .WithDescription("Destination file")
        .FromPositionalArgument(2);

    args.AddBoolean("overwrite").AsNotRequired().AllowEmptyValue()
        .WithDescription("Overwrite the destination");

    return args;
}

mytool copy input.txt output.txt
mytool copy input.txt output.txt --overwrite

Named arguments do not consume positions, so they can appear anywhere in the command line without shifting the positional values:

mytool copy --overwrite input.txt output.txt   # source=input.txt, destination=output.txt

Unix style paths are handled correctly. A value like /home/user/data.txt contains more than one slash and no colon, so it is treated as a positional value rather than as an argument name.

Positional arguments show up in usage output wrapped in braces rather than with a leading slash:

{source:String}         - Source file
[{destination:String}]  - Destination file

Argument Aliases

Use WithAlias() to give an argument a second name, which is handy for offering a short form:

args.AddString("environment").AsRequired()
    .WithAlias("env")
    .WithDescription("Target environment");

mytool deploy --environment production
mytool deploy --env production            # same thing

The real argument name is matched first, so an alias can never shadow another argument's name.

WithAlias() and FromPositionalArgument() both write to the same underlying alias slot — FromPositionalArgument(n) works by setting the alias to POSITION_n. Use one or the other on any given argument, not both, since the second call overwrites the first.

Friendly Names

Use WithFriendlyName() to give an argument a human readable label. This does not change the console usage output — it is carried in the --json schema and is used as the field label when the command is rendered in cmdui:

args.AddString("api-key").AsRequired()
    .WithFriendlyName("API Key")
    .WithDescription("Your API key");

File and Directory Existence

MustExist() and ExistenceOptional() apply to AddFile() and AddDirectory() arguments only. Calling either one on any other argument type throws an InvalidOperationException.

Existence is optional by default, so MustExist() is the one you normally reach for. When set, validation fails if the file or directory is not there:

args.AddFile("input").AsRequired()
    .MustExist()
    .WithDescription("Input file, must already exist");

args.AddDirectory("output-dir").AsNotRequired()
    .ExistenceOptional()
    .WithDescription("Output directory, created if missing");

Relative paths are resolved against the current working directory before the existence check. Read the resolved path back with the argument's AbsolutePath property, or with the GetPathToFile() / GetPathToDirectory() helpers:

var inputPath = Arguments.GetPathToFile("input", mustExist: true, fullyQualifiedPath: true);
var outputPath = Arguments.GetPathToDirectory("output-dir");

Default Values

WithDefaultValue() sets the value an argument falls back to when nothing is supplied. The default is reported in the --help output on a line of its own, so users can see what a command will do before they run it:

args.AddString("thing").AsNotRequired()
    .WithDescription("thing to deploy")
    .WithDefaultValue("the-usual-thing");

deploy --help

** USAGE **
deploy
--environment <String> - environment to deploy to
[--thing <String>]     - thing to deploy
                        (default: the-usual-thing)

The default is also reported when a command fails validation, and it always shows the configured default rather than whatever was typed on the command line. Defaults are exposed on IArgument.DefaultValue and IArgument.HasDefaultValue, and are included in the --json schema output.

Command Aliases

Short Names

Use Aliases on the [Command] attribute to give a command extra names. This is handy for offering a short form of a long command name:

[Command(Name = "generate-project-scaffolding",
    Aliases = new[] { "gps", "scaffold" },
    Description = "Generates project scaffolding")]
public class GenerateScaffoldingCommand : Command

mytool gps            # same as: mytool generate-project-scaffolding

Aliases are resolved to the real command name before the command runs, so ExecutionInfo.CommandName is always the real name. A real command name always wins over an alias, so an alias can never shadow an actual command. Aliases appear next to the command in the available commands list:

generate-project-scaffolding (gps, scaffold) - Generates project scaffolding

Aliases That Supply Argument Values

Use [CommandAlias] to create a shortcut for a command that is usually run with the same set of arguments. Each entry is in name=value form; an entry with no = is treated as a flag style argument:

[Command(Name = "deploy", Description = "Deploys a thing to an environment")]
[CommandAlias("deploy-prod", "environment=production", "verbose",
    Description = "Deploy to production with verbose output")]
[CommandAlias("deploy-dev", "environment=development",
    Description = "Deploy to development")]
public class DeployCommand : Command

mytool deploy-prod                          # environment=production, verbose=true
mytool deploy-prod --environment staging     # environment=staging, verbose=true

The values are applied as though they had been typed on the command line, so anything actually supplied on the command line wins over them. The full order of precedence is:

command line → alias → configuration (FromConfig()) → default value

A command can have as many [CommandAlias] attributes as you like. They are listed in their own section of the usage output:

Command aliases:
deploy-dev  - Deploy to development (deploy --environment development)
deploy-prod - Deploy to production with verbose output (deploy
              --environment production --verbose)

Nothing validates aliases automatically. Call CommandAttributeUtility.GetCommandNameProblems() from a unit test to catch duplicate command names, aliases that collide with a command name or with a reserved keyword, aliases claimed by two commands, and empty aliases:

[Fact]
public void NoCommandNameProblems()
{
    var util = new CommandAttributeUtility(new DefaultProgramOptions());

    Assert.Empty(util.GetCommandNameProblems(typeof(MyCommand).Assembly));
}

Reusing Command Logic

A command can run another command in process rather than shelling out to the command line. Use ExecuteCommandAsync<T>(), which returns the command instance so you can read results back off it.

Expose whatever the caller needs as public properties set in OnExecute():

[Command(Name = "greeting", Description = "Builds a greeting for a person")]
public class GreetingCommand : Command
{
    public GreetingCommand(CommandExecutionInfo info, ITextOutputProvider outputProvider)
        : base(info, outputProvider) { }

    public string Greeting { get; private set; } = string.Empty;

    public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
    {
        var args = new ArgumentCollection();
        args.AddString("name").AsRequired().WithDescription("Name of the person to greet");
        return args;
    }

    protected override Task OnExecute(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        Greeting = $"Hello, {Arguments.GetStringValue("name")}!";
        WriteLine(Greeting);

        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

[Command(Name = "greet-everybody", Description = "Greets several people")]
public class GreetEverybodyCommand : Command
{
    public GreetEverybodyCommand(CommandExecutionInfo info, ITextOutputProvider outputProvider)
        : base(info, outputProvider) { }

    public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
    {
        var args = new ArgumentCollection();
        args.AddString("names").AsRequired().WithDescription("Comma separated list of names");
        return args;
    }

    protected override async Task OnExecute(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        var names = Arguments.GetStringValue("names")
            .Split(',', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries | StringSplitOptions.TrimEntries);

        foreach (var name in names)
        {
            var command = await ExecuteCommandAsync<GreetingCommand>(
                args => args["name"] = name, cancellationToken: cancellationToken);

            WriteLine(command.Greeting);
        }
    }
}

Things worth knowing:

• The command that gets run shares the calling command's program options, configuration, and output provider.
• It runs in quiet mode by default, which suppresses its WriteLine() output so it does not write over the calling command's output. Pass quiet: false to let it write.
• A validation failure throws a KnownException instead of printing usage information. Running a command from the command line prints usage and returns, which would leave the calling command with no way of knowing that the command never ran.
• The process exit code is left alone — nothing below the console entry point touches it. A command reports how it went by returning a CommandResult.
• CreateCommand<T>() builds the command without running it, if you need to inspect or configure it first.
• Commands nested more than CommandFrameworkConstants.MaxCommandNestingDepth levels deep throw, so an accidental "A calls B calls A" loop produces a clear error rather than a stack overflow.

Configuration

JSON Files and Environment Variables

CommandsApp
    .Create<MyCommand>(args)
    .WithAppSettings()                              // loads appsettings.json + env vars
    .WithConfigFile("appsettings.local.json", optional: true)  // additional JSON file
    .WithEnvironmentVariables()                     // add env vars explicitly
    .Run();

Custom Configuration Sources

Use ConfigureConfiguration() to add any configuration source supported by IConfigurationBuilder, such as in-memory collections:

CommandsApp
    .Create<MyCommand>(args)
    .WithAppSettings()
    .ConfigureConfiguration(config =>
    {
        config.AddInMemoryCollection(new[]
        {
            new KeyValuePair<string, string?>("MySection:MyKey", "MyValue")
        });
    })
    .Run();

Config-Backed Arguments

Arguments can pull their values from configuration using FromConfig(). Command-line values take precedence over config values.

public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
{
    var args = new ArgumentCollection();

    args.AddString("api-key")
        .FromConfig()
        .AsRequired()
        .WithDescription("Your API key");

    args.AddString("base-url")
        .FromConfig()
        .AsNotRequired()
        .WithDefaultValue("https://api.example.com")
        .WithDescription("API base URL");

    return args;
}

Dependency Injection

Register services with ConfigureServices() and use them in commands that inherit from DependencyInjectionCommand:

// Program.cs
CommandsApp
    .Create<GreetCommand>(args)
    .WithAppInfo("My Tool", "https://www.example.com")
    .ConfigureServices(services =>
    {
        services.AddSingleton<IGreetingService, GreetingService>();
    })
    .Run();

// Or with access to configuration:
CommandsApp
    .Create<GreetCommand>(args)
    .WithAppSettings()
    .ConfigureServices((services, config) =>
    {
        services.Configure<MyOptions>(config.GetSection("MyOptions"));
        services.AddSingleton<IGreetingService, GreetingService>();
    })
    .Run();

// Command using DI
[Command(Name = "greet", Description = "Greet with DI", IsAsync = true)]
public class GreetCommand : DependencyInjectionCommand
{
    public GreetCommand(CommandExecutionInfo info, ITextOutputProvider outputProvider)
        : base(info, outputProvider) { }

    public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
    {
        var args = new ArgumentCollection();
        args.AddString("name").AsRequired().WithDescription("Name to greet");
        return args;
    }

    protected override Task OnExecute()
    {
        var service = GetRequiredService<IGreetingService>();
        WriteLine(service.GetGreeting(Arguments.GetStringValue("name")));
        return Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

Async Commands

For commands that need async operations, inherit from AsynchronousCommand:

[Command(Name = "fetch", Description = "Fetch data from API", IsAsync = true)]
public class FetchCommand : AsynchronousCommand
{
    public FetchCommand(CommandExecutionInfo info, ITextOutputProvider outputProvider)
        : base(info, outputProvider) { }

    public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
    {
        var args = new ArgumentCollection();
        args.AddString("url").AsRequired().WithDescription("URL to fetch");
        return args;
    }

    protected override async Task OnExecute()
    {
        var url = Arguments.GetStringValue("url");
        // async work here
        await Task.CompletedTask;
    }
}

CommandsApp Builder Reference

Method	Description
RunAsync(args)	Static. Create, configure from assembly metadata, and run in one call
RunAsync<TCommand>(args)	Static. Same, with commands discovered in the assembly containing TCommand
Create<TCommand>(args)	Create builder, discover commands from the assembly containing TCommand
Create(args)	Create builder, discover commands from the entry assembly
Create(args, assembly)	Create builder with explicit assembly
WithAppInfoFromAssembly()	Fill in name, version and website from assembly metadata, leaving anything already set alone
WithAppInfo(name, website)	Set application name and website
WithAppInfo(name, version, website)	Set application name, version, and website
WithVersion(version)	Set version string
WithVersionFromAssembly()	Auto-detect version from assembly file version
WithAppSettings(optional)	Load appsettings.json and environment variables
WithConfigFile(filename, optional)	Load an additional JSON config file
WithEnvironmentVariables()	Add environment variables to configuration
ConfigureConfiguration(action)	Direct access to IConfigurationBuilder for custom sources
ConfigureServices(action)	Register services for dependency injection
ConfigureServices(action<services, config>)	Register services with access to IConfiguration
ConfigureOptions(action)	Configure DefaultProgramOptions directly
ConfigureUsageDisplay(action)	Configure how usage/help is displayed
UsesConfiguration(bool)	Enable/disable built-in configuration storage
Run()	Build and run the application, returning the exit code
RunAsync(cancellationToken)	Build and run the application asynchronously, returning the exit code

Stored Configuration

An argument can read its value from the tool's stored configuration, so a user supplies it once instead of on every command line:

args.AddString("api-key").AsRequired().FromConfig()
    .WithDescription("API key");

mytool set-configuration --name api-key --value abc123

Command line beats configuration, so a stored value can always be overridden for one run.

If a required value is in neither place, that is a validation failure with a message that says exactly what to do — rather than an exception thrown part way through the command:

$ mytool api-call
** INVALID ARGUMENT **
api-key is required. Supply it with --api-key value, or store it once with:
set-configuration --name api-key --value value

check-configuration reports what the whole tool needs and whether it is set:

$ mytool check-configuration
api-key - NOT SET (required)
    used by: api-call, api-upload
    set it with: set-configuration --name api-key --value value
base-url - set (required)
    used by: api-call, api-upload

Add --missingonly to see only what is missing.

Finding a Value Instead of Asking for It

When a value can usually be worked out, let the framework find it and only insist when it cannot:

args.AddFile("solution")
    .DiscoverSingleMatch("*.sln")
    .AsRequired()
    .WithDescription("Solution file. Found automatically when there is exactly one here.");

$ mytool build                    # one .sln here, so it is used
$ mytool build                    # none here
solution was not supplied and no files matching '*.sln' were found in /work.
Supply it with --solution value.

$ mytool build                    # three of them
solution was not supplied and 3 files match '*.sln' in /work: a.sln, b.sln, c.sln.
Supply it with --solution value to choose one.

Finding nothing and finding several are different situations and say different things, because they call for different things from you.

The search runs when the command is validated, never when its arguments are declared — so --json does not glob the disk once per command every time something asks for the schema. It is a last resort: anything supplied on the command line, by an alias, from configuration, or as a default wins.

Argument Rules

Some requirements are about the combination of arguments rather than any one of them. Declare them and the framework enforces them, prints them in the usage output, and ships them in the schema:

public override ArgumentCollection GetArguments()
{
    var args = new ArgumentCollection();

    args.AddString("token").AsNotRequired().WithDescription("Personal access token");
    args.AddBoolean("windowsauth").AsNotRequired().AllowEmptyValue();
    args.AddString("username").AsNotRequired();
    args.AddString("password").AsNotRequired();

    args.ExactlyOneOf("token", "windowsauth");
    args.RequiredTogether("username", "password");
    args.When("mode", "advanced").Require("level").Forbid("simpleflag");

    return args;
}

Rule	Meaning
ExactlyOneOf(...)	Exactly one has to be supplied
AtLeastOneOf(...)	At least one has to be supplied
MutuallyExclusive(...)	No two of these together; none is required
RequiredTogether(...)	All of them or none of them
When(arg, value).Require(...)	Required only when arg has that value
When(arg, value).Forbid(...)	Not allowed when arg has that value

When(arg) with no value means "whenever that argument is supplied at all". Zero and several produce different messages, because they are different mistakes:

$ mytool connect
One of 'token', 'windowsauth' is required.

$ mytool connect --token abc --windowsauth
Only one of 'token', 'windowsauth' can be supplied, but 'token', 'windowsauth' were.

Rules are declarative rather than a callback in OnExecute() so that the --json schema carries them — which is what lets a form apply them as it is being filled in rather than only when it is submitted.

Multi-level Commands

Give a command a Group and it is run as two words:

[Command(Group = "widget", Name = "list", Description = "Lists the widgets")]
public class WidgetListCommand : Command

mytool widget list --filter blue

Resolution is greedy longest-first, so a two-word name wins over a one-word name that happens to match the first word. A group on its own is not a command.

Group is deliberately separate from Category. Category is a display heading for the command list — strings like "Work Items" — and using it as a prefix would produce command names nobody would type. Grouping is a rename, not a prefix.

Adopting groups in an existing tool does not have to break anyone's scripts. Keep the old flat name as an alias:

[Command(Group = "widget", Name = "show",
    Description = "Shows one widget",
    Aliases = ["showwidget"])]

Both mytool widget show --name sprocket and mytool showwidget --name sprocket work, and the command list shows widget show (showwidget).

Output Channels

Commands write on three channels, the same split every other command line tool uses:

Method	What it is for	Console destination
WriteLine() / Write()	The result — what the command was asked to produce	stdout
WriteStatus()	Commentary about the work — progress, notes	stderr
WriteError()	Failures. Never suppressed by quiet mode	stderr

This is what makes a command's output pipeable. A command that writes its result with WriteLine() and everything else with WriteStatus() can have its output redirected to a file without the commentary landing in it:

mytool export --format json > data.json     # only the result is captured

StringBuilderTextOutputProvider captures the channels separately, so a test can assert on the payload without the chatter:

Assert.Equal(expectedJson, output.GetResultOutput());
Assert.Contains("Exported 42 rows", output.GetStatusOutput());

GetOutput() still returns everything in the order it was written.

If you have written your own ITextOutputProvider, nothing breaks — WriteStatus() and WriteError() fall back to WriteLine() until you override them.

Reporting Progress

protected override async Task OnExecute(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
    var items = await LoadItems(cancellationToken);

    for (var i = 0; i < items.Count; i++)
    {
        cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();

        ReportProgress($"Processing {items[i].Name}", i + 1, items.Count);
    }

    WriteLine($"Processed {items.Count} items.");
}

Progress goes to the diagnostic channel, so it never lands inside a redirected result:

mytool process > results.txt     # progress still shows on screen; results.txt has only results
mytool process 2>/dev/null       # progress silenced, results still produced

On a terminal the console provider redraws a single line in place. When stderr is redirected it writes plain lines instead — otherwise the carriage returns would fill the destination with unreadable spam. CommandBase.Progress is an IProgress<CommandProgress>, so it can be handed straight to any API that already takes one.

In a test, assert on what was reported:

Assert.Equal(3, output.ProgressReports.Count);
Assert.Equal(1.0, output.ProgressReports[^1].Fraction);

Prompting for Input

Commands read input through ITextInputProvider, the counterpart to ITextOutputProvider. CommandBase gives you ReadLine(), Prompt() and PromptForYesNo():

protected override void OnExecute()
{
    var name = Arguments.GetStringValue("name");

    if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name))
    {
        name = Prompt("What is your name? ");
    }

    if (PromptForYesNo($"Say hello to {name}?"))
    {
        WriteLine($"Hello, {name}!");
    }
}

Because the provider comes from the program options rather than from the console, an interactive command is testable — queue up the answers and run it:

var output = new StringBuilderTextOutputProvider();
var input = new QueuedTextInputProvider("Ben", "y");

var options = new DefaultProgramOptions
{
    ApplicationName = "My CLI Tool",
    OutputProvider = output,
    InputProvider = input
};

// ...run the command, then assert
Assert.Contains("Hello, Ben!", output.GetOutput());
Assert.Equal(2, input.ReadCount);

Type	Description
ConsoleTextInputProvider	Reads from the console. The default.
QueuedTextInputProvider	Hands out queued lines, then null. For tests.

Shell Completion

Any tool can print a completion stub for pwsh, zsh or bash:

mytool completion --shell pwsh >> $PROFILE
mytool completion --shell zsh  >> ~/.zshrc
mytool completion --shell bash >> ~/.bashrc

The stub is a fixed few lines that hand the whole command line back to the tool through a hidden --complete keyword and turn the answer into whatever the shell wants. Nothing about the tool's commands is baked into it, so it never goes stale — add a command or an argument and completion knows about it with nothing to regenerate.

That is affordable because answering is cheap. Completing a command name reads the registry and instantiates nothing; only once a command name resolves does the framework create that one command to ask it for its arguments.

Command names come with their descriptions:

$ mytool <TAB>
greet-everybody   Reuses the greeting command to greet several people
greeting          Builds a greeting for a person

then that command's argument names, the framework's own reserved arguments included, and then a WithAllowedValues() list when the argument has one:

$ mytool deploy --environment <TAB>
production  development  staging

For a file or directory argument the tool answers with a directive — :file:PATTERN or :dir — instead of a list of paths, and the shell completes the path itself, because it already knows how to and it quotes what it finds correctly. An argument that also declares DiscoverSingleMatch("*.json") narrows its directive to that pattern, so the shell only offers the files the command could actually use.

How much of this you see depends on the shell. PowerShell gets the most: descriptions become tooltips in the completion menu and the directives map onto real provider paths. zsh shows descriptions and hands paths to _files. bash cannot show descriptions at all, so its stub drops them and offers values only.

Terminal UI

tui opens a terminal interface for the tool: browse its commands, fill one in, and run it without leaving the terminal. Unlike gui, which shells out to the separately installed cmdui, this runs inside the tool's own process — which is why it is a compile-time reference rather than something a user can install afterwards.

Add the package and one line:

dotnet add package Benday.CommandsFramework.Tui

using Benday.CommandsFramework;
using Benday.CommandsFramework.Tui;

return await CommandsApp
    .Create<MyCommand>(args)
    .WithAppInfoFromAssembly()
    .WithTui()
    .RunAsync();

mytool tui

.WithTui() is an extension on the CommandsApp builder. A program that configures DefaultProgramOptions and runs DefaultProgram directly sets the same thing itself:

var options = new DefaultProgramOptions();

options.ApplicationName = "My CLI Tool";
options.TuiHost = new SpectreTuiHost();

var program = new DefaultProgram(options, assembly);

return await program.RunAsync(args);

tui is reserved whether or not the tool was built with one, so a command cannot quietly claim the name. A tool that has not called .WithTui() says what its author has to add rather than offering to install anything — no runtime install can supply a compile-time reference.

What the interface does:

• Browse the commands, grouped by Category and nested by Group, with a fuzzy filter across names, aliases, categories and descriptions. A [CommandAlias] that supplies argument values gets its own section and opens a form already filled in with them. Opening the browser instantiates no commands, so it costs about what shell completion costs rather than what --json costs.
• Fill in a form whose widget for each field comes from the argument itself: a list of choices for WithAllowedValues(), a toggle for a boolean, a path field for a file or directory argument. WithFriendlyName() becomes the field label. A value the argument refuses is never stored, and what is wrong with the form as a whole is reported by the command's own validation — so a missing FromConfig() value still names the set-configuration call that would supply it.
• Copy the command line the form adds up to, rendered in whichever syntax the tool accepts. The interface teaches the command line: you find a command in a form and graduate to typing it.
• Run it in process and watch the output arrive, with the result, status and error channels kept visually apart and progress redrawn in place. A command that prompts is asked through the interface, so Prompt() and PromptForYesNo() work with no knowledge that they are inside one. Ctrl-C cancels the command rather than the interface.

Running in process is what makes this different from cmdui: the form holds the real IArgument objects rather than a JSON mirror of them, so validating a field is a direct call and a file argument's MustExist is checked against the machine the tool actually runs on — which is not something a file picker in a browser can do.

The package targets net8.0, net9.0 and net10.0, the same as the framework itself.

Data Formatting Utilities

The framework includes utility classes in Benday.CommandsFramework.DataFormatting for working with tabular and CSV data inside your commands.

TableFormatter

Format data as aligned, column-padded tables for console output. Supports optional row filtering.

using Benday.CommandsFramework.DataFormatting;

var formatter = new TableFormatter();

formatter.AddColumn("Name");
formatter.AddColumn("Role");
formatter.AddColumn("Location");

formatter.AddData("Alice", "Developer", "Seattle");
formatter.AddData("Bob", "Designer", "Portland");
formatter.AddData("Carol", "Manager", "Denver");

WriteLine(formatter.FormatTable());

Output:

Name  Role      Location
Alice Developer Seattle
Bob   Designer  Portland
Carol Manager   Denver

Use AddDataWithFilter() to only include rows where any column value contains a search string (case-insensitive):

formatter.AddDataWithFilter("port", "Bob", "Designer", "Portland");   // included
formatter.AddDataWithFilter("port", "Alice", "Developer", "Seattle"); // excluded

CsvReader

Read and iterate over CSV files or strings. Supports header rows, quoted values with embedded commas and newlines, and column access by name or index.

using Benday.CommandsFramework.DataFormatting;

// From a file
var reader = CsvReader.FromFile("/path/to/data.csv");

// Or from a string
var reader = new CsvReader("Name,Age,City\nAlice,30,Seattle\nBob,25,Portland");

foreach (var row in reader)
{
    // Access by column name
    var name = row["Name"];
    var age = row["Age"];

    // Or by index
    var city = row[2];

    Console.WriteLine($"{name} is {age} years old and lives in {city}");
}

CsvWriter

Build CSV data in memory, edit existing CSV content, and write to file or string. Handles quoting of values that contain commas, newlines, or quotes.

using Benday.CommandsFramework.DataFormatting;

// Create from scratch
var writer = new CsvWriter();
writer.AddColumns("Name", "Age", "City");
writer.AddRow("Alice", "30", "Seattle");
writer.AddRow("Bob", "25", "Portland");

// Save to file
writer.SaveToFile("/path/to/output.csv");

// Or get as string
var csvString = writer.ToCsvString();

Edit existing CSV data by loading from a CsvReader:

var reader = CsvReader.FromFile("/path/to/data.csv");
var writer = new CsvWriter(reader);

// Modify a value
writer.SetValue(0, "City", "Tacoma");

// Add a new row
writer.AddRow("Carol", "35", "Denver");

// Remove a row
writer.RemoveRow(1);

writer.SaveToFile("/path/to/updated.csv");

Built-in Keywords

• --help — Display usage information for a command
• --json — Output the full command schema as JSON (used by tooling)
• gui — Launch the CmdUi web interface for this tool
• tui — Launch the terminal interface for this tool, when it was built with one (see Terminal UI)
• completion — Print the shell completion script (--shell pwsh|zsh|bash)
• --quiet — Suppress a command's WriteLine() output. Applied automatically to commands that are run by another command.
• -- — End of options. Everything after it is a value, even if it starts with a dash.