# natemcmaster/CommandLineUtils

Command line parsing and utilities for .NET

Repository: https://github.com/natemcmaster/CommandLineUtils
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/commandlineutils
Homepage: https://natemcmaster.github.io/CommandLineUtils/
Language: C#
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: dotnet, command-line, dotnet-core
Last push: 2026-07-01T21:21:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 84/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3305, "days_push": 63, "days_rel": 150, "gap_med": 37.0, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2274, forks 261 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:33.276825+00:00)

## What it is
A .NET library for building command line applications, providing argument parsing, option validation, help text generation, and interactive console prompts. It supports both an attribute-based API and a builder-pattern API for defining commands, options, and subcommands.

## Use cases
- parse command line arguments in a .NET console app
- build a CLI tool with subcommands in C#
- generate help text automatically for command line options
- validate required options and argument ranges in a CLI
- prompt for passwords and interactive console input
- define CLI options using C# attributes

## When to choose
- you are writing a .NET/C# command line application and want mature argument parsing
- you want declarative option definitions via attributes with validation
- you need automatic help text generation and interactive prompts
- you want a well-documented, widely used alternative to System.CommandLine

## When to avoid
- you are not on the .NET platform
- you need a full CLI framework with shell completion or config file loading out of the box
- you prefer System.CommandLine or Spectre.Console.Cli ecosystems

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: cli, parser, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: dotnet, cross-platform, cli
- tags: command-line-parsing, console-apps, attributes-api, builder-api, help-text-generation, input-validation, nuget, command-line

## Member repositories
- natemcmaster/CommandLineUtils (main) score 84

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:33.276825+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 2026-08-30T02:41:32.544108+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/natemcmaster/CommandLineUtils (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:33.276825+00:00, sha bca7e3453b31)
  - homepage: https://natemcmaster.github.io/CommandLineUtils/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:22:00.473811+00:00, sha 1a7485b466b3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.