Introduction

CLiMAT, or Command Line Interface Macro Tree is a tool that streamlines working with command line interface tools. It can be used by both programmers and system administrators alike.

The core concept revolves around using a declarative approach to implement intuitive CLI interfaces.

Whether you want to create a new CLI tool, or you want a new CLI interface to an existing tool, CLiMAT can help you with that.

Example

Here is a brief example of what CLiMAT can do:

sgit.cli
sgit {
    sub acp(amend a: flag) {
        action <%
            git add . &&
            git commit $(amend:--amend) &&
            git push $(amend:--force)
        %>
    }
    sub cf(branch: arg, force f: flag) {
        action <%
            git checkout feature/$(branch) $(force:--force)
        %>
    }
}

This simple script will create a toolchain (a CLI tool that has many capabilities) named sgit with 2 subcommands:

acp which will execute git add, git commit and git push. Takes an optional parameter amend which will be passed on to the git commit as an --amend flag, and to the git push as the --force flag.
cf which will execute git checkout, but the passed-in branch is always prefixed with feature/.

The generated tool can be used like this

sgit acp
sgit acp --amend
sgit acp -a
sgit cf myFeature

This is it. Now you have a git macro that you can customize and tailor to your needs.

info

CLiMAT uses a special DSL (Domain-specific language) for its scripts that has many more capabilities than what is showcased in the above example. Learn more here.

Next, we're going to explore how to generate your first toolchain

Example​

Example