CLI Prompts Clack

Clack CLI Prompts

Quick Guide: Use @clack/prompts for pre-styled interactive CLI prompts (text, select, multiselect, confirm, spinner, progress). Check isCancel() after EVERY prompt call -- users can Ctrl+C at any point. Use group() for multi-step flows with centralized cancellation. Use @clack/core only when building fully custom prompt UIs. ESM-only since v1.0.

CRITICAL: Before Using This Skill

All code must follow project conventions in CLAUDE.md (kebab-case, named exports, import ordering, import type, named constants)

(You MUST check isCancel() after EVERY prompt call -- skipping this causes silent crashes when users press Ctrl+C)

(You MUST call process.exit(0) after cancel() -- the cancel message prints but the process keeps running otherwise)

(You MUST use group() with onCancel for multi-step flows -- it handles cancellation centrally so you don't check each prompt individually)

(You MUST call spinner.stop() before any other output -- overlapping spinner output with prompts or logs corrupts the terminal)

Auto-detection: @clack/prompts, @clack/core, clack, isCancel, intro, outro, cancel, spinner, group, text prompt, select prompt, confirm prompt, multiselect, groupMultiselect, selectKey, note, log, tasks, progress, taskLog, stream, box, autocomplete, date prompt, path prompt, updateSettings

When to use:

• Building interactive CLI prompts (text input, selection, confirmation)
• Creating multi-step CLI wizards with progress indication
• Adding styled terminal output (notes, logs, boxes, spinners)
• Handling user cancellation gracefully across prompt flows

When NOT to use:

• Full terminal UI applications with persistent layout (use a terminal UI framework)
• Non-interactive scripts where stdin is piped (clack prompts require a TTY)
• Simple y/n confirmation that doesn't need styling (plain readline suffices)

Key patterns covered:

• Core prompts: text, password, select, multiselect, confirm, selectKey
• Session lifecycle: intro, outro, cancel, isCancel
• Progress: spinner, progress bar, tasks
• Composition: group with centralized cancellation
• Output: log, note, box, stream, taskLog
• Custom prompts with @clack/core primitives
• Validation, default values, and AbortSignal cancellation

Philosophy

Clack provides beautiful, minimal CLI prompts with zero configuration. The @clack/prompts package gives you pre-styled components that look great out of the box. Every prompt returns a value or a cancel symbol -- the core discipline is always checking for cancellation.

Two packages, two purposes:

• @clack/prompts -- Pre-styled, opinionated prompts. Use this for 95% of cases.
• @clack/core -- Unstyled primitives with a render() function. Use only when you need a completely custom prompt UI.

Key design principles:

• Every prompt is async and returns value | symbol -- the symbol indicates cancellation
• Session boundaries (intro/outro) create visual grouping in the terminal
• group() composes multiple prompts with shared cancellation handling
• Spinners, progress bars, and task runners handle long-running operations
• All prompts accept signal: AbortSignal for programmatic cancellation

Core Patterns

Pattern 1: Session Lifecycle and Cancellation

Every clack CLI flow starts with intro() and ends with outro(). The critical pattern is checking isCancel() after every prompt call.

import * as p from "@clack/prompts";

p.intro("Project setup");

const name = await p.text({ message: "Project name?" });

if (p.isCancel(name)) {
  p.cancel("Setup cancelled.");
  process.exit(0);
}

// name is now narrowed to string (not symbol)
p.outro(`Created ${name}`);

Why good: isCancel check narrows the type from string | symbol to string, cancel prints a styled message, process.exit prevents dangling execution

// BAD: Missing isCancel check
const name = await p.text({ message: "Project name?" });
console.log(`Created ${name}`); // name could be a symbol -- crashes or prints "[Symbol]"

Why bad: if user presses Ctrl+C, name is a symbol, not a string -- string operations on it will crash or produce garbage output

Pattern 2: Group Prompts with Centralized Cancellation

group() chains multiple prompts and handles cancellation in one place. Each prompt receives previous results.

import * as p from "@clack/prompts";

const project = await p.group(
  {
    name: () => p.text({ message: "Project name?", placeholder: "my-app" }),
    framework: ({ results }) =>
      p.select({
        message: `Framework for ${results.name}?`,
        options: [
          { value: "react", label: "React" },
          { value: "vue", label: "Vue" },
          { value: "svelte", label: "Svelte" },
        ],
      }),
    install: () => p.confirm({ message: "Install dependencies?" }),
  },
  {
    onCancel: () => {
      p.cancel("Setup cancelled.");
      process.exit(0);
    },
  },
);

// project is typed: { name: string; framework: string; install: boolean }

Why good: centralized onCancel eliminates per-prompt isCancel checks, results are typed as an object, each prompt can reference previous results via results

See examples/core.md for complete group patterns with validation and conditional prompts.

Pattern 3: Spinner and Progress

Spinners show activity during async work. Always stop the spinner before printing other output.

import * as p from "@clack/prompts";

const s = p.spinner();
s.start("Installing dependencies");
await installDeps();
s.stop("Dependencies installed");

Progress bar extends spinner with incremental tracking:

const MAX_STEPS = 100;
const prog = p.progress({ max: MAX_STEPS, style: "heavy" });
prog.start("Processing files");
for (const file of files) {
  await processFile(file);
  prog.advance(1, `Processed ${file.name}`);
}
prog.stop("All files processed");

Why good: spinner and progress provide visual feedback, stop message replaces the spinner line cleanly

See examples/core.md for spinner error handling, cancellation with AbortSignal, and tasks runner.

Pattern 4: Validation

All input prompts accept a validate function. Return a string to show an error, or undefined to accept.

const MIN_LENGTH = 2;
const MAX_LENGTH = 50;

const name = await p.text({
  message: "Package name?",
  validate: (value) => {
    if (!value || value.length < MIN_LENGTH)
      return `Name must be at least ${MIN_LENGTH} characters`;
    if (value.length > MAX_LENGTH)
      return `Name must be at most ${MAX_LENGTH} characters`;
    if (!/^[a-z0-9-]+$/.test(value))
      return "Name must be lowercase alphanumeric with hyphens";
  },
});

Why good: validation runs inline before the prompt resolves, user sees the error immediately and can retry, named constants for limits

See examples/core.md for validation patterns on different prompt types.

Pattern 5: Output Utilities (log, note, box)

Clack provides styled output functions that match the prompt theme.

import * as p from "@clack/prompts";

// Logging with state symbols
p.log.info("Checking configuration...");
p.log.success("Configuration valid");
p.log.warn("Missing optional field: description");
p.log.error("Invalid config file");
p.log.step("Step 1 complete");

// Boxed note for important information
p.note("Run `npm start` to begin development", "Next steps");

// Styled box
p.box("v1.0.0 released!", "Announcement", {
  contentAlign: "center",
  rounded: true,
});

Why good: themed output matches prompt styling, note/box draw attention to important information

Pattern 6: Tasks Runner

Sequential tasks with automatic success/failure messaging.

import * as p from "@clack/prompts";

await p.tasks([
  {
    title: "Downloading template",
    task: async () => {
      await downloadTemplate();
      return "Template downloaded";
    },
  },
  {
    title: "Installing dependencies",
    task: async (message) => {
      message("Resolving packages...");
      await installDeps();
      return "Dependencies installed";
    },
  },
]);

Why good: tasks display spinner per item, return value becomes the completion message, message() callback updates spinner text mid-task

See examples/core.md for error handling in tasks and taskLog for detailed output.

Detailed Resources:

• examples/core.md - All prompt types, cancellation, spinner, progress, tasks, group, validation, output
• examples/advanced.md - Custom prompts with @clack/core, AbortSignal, streams, i18n, date/path/autocomplete
• reference.md - API quick reference, decision framework, prompt type comparison

Decision Framework

Need user input?
|
+-> Single value?
|   +-> Free text -> text() or password()
|   +-> One of N choices -> select() (list) or selectKey() (keyboard shortcut)
|   +-> Yes/No -> confirm()
|   +-> Date -> date()
|   +-> File path -> path()
|
+-> Multiple values?
|   +-> Flat list -> multiselect()
|   +-> Grouped categories -> groupMultiselect()
|   +-> Searchable -> autocomplete() or autocompleteMultiselect()
|
+-> Multiple prompts in sequence?
    +-> group() with onCancel for centralized handling

Need to show progress?
|
+-> Indeterminate wait -> spinner()
+-> Known total steps -> progress()
+-> Sequential tasks -> tasks()
+-> Detailed logs per task -> taskLog()

Need styled output?
|
+-> Status message -> log.info/warn/error/success/step()
+-> Important notice -> note() or box()
+-> Streaming content -> stream.info/warn/error/success()

RED FLAGS

High Priority Issues:

• Missing isCancel() check after a prompt -- the return value is value | symbol, and using the symbol as a string crashes or produces garbage. Always check before using the value.
• Missing process.exit() after cancel() -- cancel() only prints a message, it does not stop execution. The process continues running.
• Calling another prompt while spinner is active -- spinner output and prompt output overlap, corrupting the terminal display. Always call spinner.stop() first.
• Using require() with @clack/prompts v1.0+ -- the package is ESM-only since v1.0. Use import syntax.

Medium Priority Issues:

• Not using group() for multi-step flows -- checking isCancel() after every single prompt is verbose and error-prone. group() with onCancel centralizes this.
• Ignoring the validate option -- prompts accept invalid input by default. Add validation for any input that has constraints.
• Using multiselect without required: false when zero selections should be valid -- by default, at least one item must be selected.

Gotchas & Edge Cases:

• isCancel() returns true for the cancel symbol but also narrows the TypeScript type -- always use it as a type guard before accessing the value
• spinner() returns an object, not a promise -- call .start() separately
• group() prompt functions receive { results } with all previously collected values, but TypeScript types each value as possibly undefined since earlier prompts might not have run yet
• confirm() returns boolean | symbol, not just boolean -- still needs isCancel() check when used outside group()
• select() generic type parameter controls the return type -- select<"react" | "vue">({...}) narrows the result
• log.warn has an alias log.warning -- both work identically
• progress.advance() with no arguments advances by 1 -- the step parameter is optional
• note() and box() are synchronous (not prompts) -- they return void, not promises
• All prompts accept signal: AbortSignal for programmatic cancellation (e.g., timeouts)
• updateSettings() applies globally -- call it once at startup, not per prompt
• v1.1.0 replaced picocolors with Node.js built-in styleText -- requires Node.js 20.12+

CRITICAL REMINDERS

All code must follow project conventions in CLAUDE.md (kebab-case, named exports, import ordering, import type, named constants)

(You MUST check isCancel() after EVERY prompt call -- skipping this causes silent crashes when users press Ctrl+C)

(You MUST call process.exit(0) after cancel() -- the cancel message prints but the process keeps running otherwise)

(You MUST use group() with onCancel for multi-step flows -- it handles cancellation centrally so you don't check each prompt individually)

(You MUST call spinner.stop() before any other output -- overlapping spinner output with prompts or logs corrupts the terminal)

Failure to follow these rules will cause silent process hangs, corrupted terminal output, and runtime crashes on user cancellation.