CLI Tool To Generate Blog Post

Command Line Interface (CLI) tools are essential in a developer's toolkit, facilitating various tasks. This guide aims to walkthrough the process of developing a CLI tool that generates files in Frontmatter format, similar to the one used in this blog.

Prerequisites

Ensure the following dependencies are installed:

npm install -D @inquirer/prompts dedent

Utilizing Inquirer

Begin by creating a run() function. This function utilizes the Inquirer package to solicit the user's input for a title and description.

blog-creation.mjs

const run = async () => {
  const title = await input({
    message: 'Enter Title:',
    validate: function (value) {
      if (!value) {
        return 'Title is required.';
      }
      return true;
    },
  });
  console.log(title);
 
  const description = await input({
    message: 'Enter description',
    validate: function (value) {
      if (!value) {
        return 'Description is required.';
      }
      return true;
    },
  });
  console.log(description);
};
 
run();

Key components of the above snippet:

Solicit the user for a title and description.
The message property indicates the prompt for the user.
The validate property ensures input compliance (e.g., required, length constraints).
Outputs the captured data using console.log().

Formatting and File Generation

The dedent package is used for formatting the responses into a structured multi-line format.
Use the fs module to create a file with the generated content in the desired directory.
NOTE: Ensure the filePath aligns with your project's directory structure.

blog-creation.mjs

const fileContent = dedent`
    ---
    title: ${title}
    description: ${description}
    ---
 
    ## Introduction
 
    ### Sub Header
  `;
const fileName = title.toLowerCase().split(' ').join('-');
const filePath = `content/blogs/${fileName}.mdx`;
 
// Create file
fs.writeFile(filePath, fileContent, (err) => {
  if (err) {
    throw err;
  } else {
    console.log(`blog generated at ${filePath}`);
  }
});

Executing Your Script

Include your scripts reference in your package.json:

package.json

  scripts: {
    "make:blog": "node ./scripts/blog-creation.mjs run"
  }

You now have a functional CLI tool that captures user input, formats it, and outputs a structured file!

Full Code Implementation

blog-creation.mjs

import * as fs from 'fs';
import dedent from 'dedent';
import { input } from '@inquirer/prompts';
 
function countFiles(directoryPath) {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    fs.readdir(directoryPath, (err, files) => {
      if (err) {
        reject(`Error reading directory: ${err}`);
      } else {
        const fileCount = files.filter((file) =>
          fs.statSync(`${directoryPath}/${file}`).isFile(),
        ).length;
        resolve(fileCount);
      }
    });
  });
}
 
const generateContent = async (answers) => {
  const total = await countFiles('content/blogs');
 
  return dedent`
      ---
      title: ${answers.title}
      description: ${answers.description}
      order: ${total + 1}
      ---
 
      ## Introduction
 
      ### Sub Header
    `;
};
 
const run = async () => {
  const title = await input({
    message: 'Enter Title:',
    validate: function (value) {
      if (!value) {
        return 'Title is required.';
      }
      return true;
    },
  });
  console.log(title);
 
  const description = await input({
    message: 'Enter description',
    validate: function (value) {
      if (!value) {
        return 'Description is required.';
      }
      return true;
    },
  });
  console.log(description);
 
  const answers = {
    title,
    description,
  };
 
  const fileContent = await generateContent(answers);
  const fileName = answers.title.toLowerCase().split(' ').join('-');
  const filePath = `content/blogs/${fileName}.mdx`;
  fs.writeFile(filePath, fileContent, (err) => {
    if (err) {
      throw err;
    } else {
      console.log(`blog generated at ${filePath}`);
    }
  });
};
 
run();

Run the following command and see your code come to life!

yarn make:blog

CLI Tool To Generate Blog Post

Prerequisites

Utilizing Inquirer

Formatting and File Generation

Executing Your Script

Full Code Implementation

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