Go Time: Golang, Software Engineering Crawl, walk & run your way to usable CLIs in Go
Nov 12, 2024
Wesley Beary, an expert in CLI and API development at Anchor, shares insights from his journey in crafting user-friendly command-line interfaces. He discusses the balance between simplicity and advanced functionalities, emphasizing interactive modes for novices. Wesley explores the transition to Go for performance, the challenges of testing CLIs, and how self-documenting features can improve user experience. He also compares IDEs like IntelliJ and VS Code, shedding light on productivity tools that aid in software development.
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CLI Journey
- Wesley Beary's CLI journey began at Heroku, where he worked on their Ruby-based CLI.
- Now at Anchor, he builds CLI and API tools for encryption, focusing on user experience.
Custom Tooling for CLI
- Anchor's CLI needed custom tooling for a better UX and fast iteration, which standard Go libraries didn't fully address.
- Testing focused on input-output matching, unlike traditional code execution tests.
Customizations on Existing Libraries
- Anchor uses Cobra and Bubble Tea but needed to address limitations, like testing race conditions and golden file output.
- They customized their approach, enabling features like redaction and consistent golden file generation.