Padrone

Try It Out

Features

Type-Safe

Full TypeScript support with Zod schema validation. Your CLI arguments are fully typed from definition to execution.

Fluent API

Chain commands and arguments with a clean builder pattern. Easy to read and maintain.

Interactive REPL

Built-in REPL with command history, tab completion, scoped sessions, and customizable output.

Extension-First Architecture

Built-in features (help, version, REPL, signal handling, etc.) are extensions — composed via .extend() and powered by middleware-style interceptors with an onion model across 6 lifecycle phases.

AI-Ready

Expose your CLI to AI assistants via Model Context Protocol (MCP) or Vercel AI SDK with a single method call. MCP and REST server are experimental.

Composable

Mount independent programs as subcommands, override commands with merge semantics, and nest to any depth.

Auto Help

Automatic help generation from your schema definitions in multiple formats: text, ANSI, markdown, HTML, JSON.

Standard Schema

Built on Standard Schema for maximum compatibility. Works with Zod 3.25+ or 4.x.

Quick Example

import { createPadrone } from 'padrone';
import * as z from 'zod/v4';

const program = createPadrone('myapp')
  .command('greet', (c) =>
    c
      .arguments(
        z.object({
          names: z.array(z.string()).describe('Names to greet'),
          prefix: z.string().optional().describe('Prefix').meta({ flags: 'p' }),
        }),
        { positional: ['...names'] },
      )
      .action((args) => {
        args.names.forEach((name) => {
          console.log(`Hello, ${args.prefix ?? ''} ${name}!`);
        });
      }),
  );

program.cli();

myapp greet John Jane -p Mr.
# Output:
# Hello, Mr. John!
# Hello, Mr. Jane!

Installation

npm install padrone zod
# or
bun add padrone zod