{"id":18217,"library":"cli-meow-help","title":"cli-meow-help","description":"Generates automatically formatted help text for meow-based CLI applications. v4.0.0 is the current stable release, with moderate release cadence. Key differentiators: it provides a simple declarative API to generate help text by specifying commands, flags, examples, and optional header/footer, avoiding manual formatting. It integrates tightly with meow and requires meow as a peer dependency.","status":"active","version":"4.0.0","language":"javascript","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/ahmadawais/cli-meow-help","tags":["javascript","cli-meow-help","Ahmad Awais","ahmadawais","typescript"],"install":[{"cmd":"npm install cli-meow-help","lang":"bash","label":"npm"},{"cmd":"yarn add cli-meow-help","lang":"bash","label":"yarn"},{"cmd":"pnpm add cli-meow-help","lang":"bash","label":"pnpm"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Peer dependency – cli-meow-help generates help text consumed by meow.","package":"meow","optional":false}],"imports":[{"note":"Package is ESM-only from v4.0.0. CommonJS require() will fail.","wrong":"const meowHelp = require('cli-meow-help')","symbol":"meowHelp","correct":"import meowHelp from 'cli-meow-help'"},{"note":"The package exports a single default function. Named destructure does not work.","wrong":"const { meowHelp } = require('cli-meow-help')","symbol":"default","correct":"import meowHelp from 'cli-meow-help'"},{"note":"TypeScript types are bundled. Use import type for type-only imports.","wrong":null,"symbol":"type","correct":"import type { HelpOptions } from 'cli-meow-help'"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import meow from 'meow';\nimport meowHelp from 'cli-meow-help';\n\nconst commands = {\n  new: { desc: 'Creates a new user account' },\n  duplicate: { desc: 'Duplicates a user account' }\n};\n\nconst flags = {\n  random: { desc: 'Prints random data', type: 'boolean', default: true }\n};\n\nconst helpText = meowHelp({\n  name: 'cli-command',\n  flags,\n  commands\n});\n\nmeow(helpText, { flags });\n\n// Run `node cli.js --help` to see the auto-formatted help text.","lang":"typescript","description":"Demonstrates basic usage of cli-meow-help with meow: defines commands and flags, generates help text, and passes it to meow()."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Switch to import statement: import meowHelp from 'cli-meow-help'","message":"ESM-only since v4.0.0 – CommonJS require() will throw ERR_REQUIRE_ESM.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=4.0.0"},{"fix":"Remove the 'defaults' option from meowHelp() call.","message":"The 'defaults' option (boolean) was deprecated in v3.0.0 and removed in v4.0.0.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":">=3.0.0"},{"fix":"Omit 'desc' if not needed, or pass as string.","message":"The 'desc' option (string) is optional in v4.0.0; previously it was required.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":">=4.0.0"},{"fix":"Run: npm install meow","message":"Package requires meow as a peer dependency. Forgetting to install meow leads to import error.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=1.0.0"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-25T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-24T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Replace const meowHelp = require('cli-meow-help') with import meowHelp from 'cli-meow-help'","cause":"Using require() to import an ESM-only package in v4.0.0.","error":"ERR_REQUIRE_ESM"},{"fix":"Run: npm install meow","cause":"meow is not installed as a dependency.","error":"Cannot find module 'meow'"},{"fix":"Remove the 'defaults' key from the options object passed to meowHelp().","cause":"Using the deprecated 'defaults' option from v3 or earlier in v4.","error":"The 'defaults' option is no longer supported. Please remove it."}],"ecosystem":"npm","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}