# cli-guidelines/cli-guidelines

A guide to help you write better command-line programs, taking traditional UNIX principles and updating them for the modern day.

Repository: https://github.com/cli-guidelines/cli-guidelines
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cli-guidelines
Homepage: https://clig.dev
Language: CSS
License: CC-BY-SA-4.0
License Family: other
Last push: 2026-05-16T04:37:13+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 69/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 82, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2321, "days_push": 109, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3829, forks 121 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:23.127687+00:00)

## What it is
An open-source guide (clig.dev) teaching how to write better command-line programs by updating traditional UNIX principles for modern usage. The repository contains the Markdown source of the guide and the Hugo site that publishes it.

## Use cases
- learn how to design a good command-line interface
- guidelines for CLI argument parsing and error messages
- best practices for building developer CLI tools
- modern take on UNIX command-line principles
- checklist for reviewing a CLI tool's UX
- advice on output formatting, colors, and exit codes for CLIs

## When to choose
- you are building or reviewing a command-line tool and want authoritative UX guidance
- you want a concise, community-vetted reference on CLI conventions
- you need a resource to share with a team writing CLI software

## When to avoid
- you need a library or framework that implements CLI parsing for you
- you want GUI or web UX guidelines rather than terminal-focused advice
- you need a formal specification rather than practical guidance

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: documentation, developer-tools, cli
- domain: developer-tools, documentation, tutorials
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: cli-design, unix-philosophy, guide, hugo, best-practices, ux-writing, command-line, web-server

## Member repositories
- cli-guidelines/cli-guidelines (main) score 69

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:23.127687+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:26:20.200616+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/cli-guidelines/cli-guidelines (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:23.127687+00:00, sha df1a8d1f6f09)
  - homepage: https://clig.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T09:21:00.162310+00:00, sha 881c51165965)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.