Good CLI Design Is Mostly Silence
A CLI is not only a user interface. It is also an API for scripts. Quiet mode, stdout, stderr, colors, and exit codes need clear contracts.
Building CLI tools that earn trust. Design patterns, terminal UX, and the details that separate a script from something people actually rely on.
A CLI is not only a user interface. It is also an API for scripts. Quiet mode, stdout, stderr, colors, and exit codes need clear contracts.
Four real examples from recent Go CLI projects — bracketed paste handling, a scripting DSL, safe symlink restoration, and diff truncation — that show how small decisions separate a script from a tool people trust.
Defining the ‘Gold Standard’ for production-ready CLIs: TTY-aware behavior, clean stdout vs stderr contracts, JSON output for automation, and idempotent mutations.