A blazing-fast, zero-cost CLI framework for Zig. The last one you will ever use.
Build modular, ergonomic, and high-performance CLIs with ease. All batteries included.
🧱 Each command is modular and self-contained.
New: command aliases!
See docs.md for full usage, examples, and internals.
- Modular commands & subcommands
- Fast flag parsing (
--flag,--flag=value, shorthand-abc) - Type-safe support for
bool,int,string - Named positional arguments with
required,optional,variadic - Auto help/version/deprecation handling
- Pretty help output with aligned flags & args
- Cobra-like usage hints, context-aware
zig fetch --save=zli https://github.com/xcaeser/zli/archive/v3.6.3.tar.gzAdd to your build.zig:
const zli_dep = b.dependency("zli", .{ .target = target });
exe.root_module.addImport("zli", zli_dep.module("zli"));your-app/
├── build.zig
├── src/
│ ├── main.zig
│ └── cli/
│ ├── root.zig
│ ├── run.zig
│ └── version.zig
- Each command is in its own file
- You explicitly register subcommands
root.zigis the entry point
// src/main.zig
const std = @import("std");
const cli = @import("cli/root.zig");
pub fn main() !void {
const allocator = std.heap.smp_allocator;
var root = try cli.build(allocator);
defer root.deinit();
try root.execute(.{}); // Or pass data with: try root.execute(.{ .data = &my_data });
}// src/cli/root.zig
const std = @import("std");
const zli = @import("zli");
const run = @import("run.zig");
const version = @import("version.zig");
pub fn build(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !*zli.Command {
const root = try zli.Command.init(allocator, .{
.name = "blitz",
.description = "Your dev toolkit CLI",
}, showHelp);
try root.addCommands(&.{
try run.register(allocator),
try version.register(allocator),
});
return root;
}
fn showHelp(ctx: zli.CommandContext) !void {
try ctx.command.printHelp();
}// src/cli/run.zig
const std = @import("std");
const zli = @import("zli");
const now_flag = zli.Flag{
.name = "now",
.shortcut = "n",
.description = "Run immediately",
.type = .Bool,
.default_value = .{ .Bool = false },
};
pub fn register(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !*zli.Command {
const cmd = try zli.Command.init(allocator, .{
.name = "run",
.description = "Run your workflow",
}, run);
try cmd.addFlag(now_flag);
try cmd.addPositionalArg(.{
.name = "script",
.description = "Script to execute",
.required = true,
});
try cmd.addPositionalArg(.{
.name = "env",
.description = "Environment name",
.required = false,
});
return cmd;
}
fn run(ctx: zli.CommandContext) !void {
const now = ctx.flag("now", bool); // type-safe flag access
const script = ctx.getArg("script") orelse {
try ctx.command.stderr.print("Missing script arg\n", .{});
return;
};
const env = ctx.getArg("env") orelse "default";
std.debug.print("Running {s} in {s} (now = {})\n", .{ script, env, now });
}// src/cli/version.zig
const std = @import("std");
const zli = @import("zli");
pub fn register(allocator: std.mem.Allocator) !*zli.Command {
return zli.Command.init(allocator, .{
.name = "version",
.shortcut = "v",
.description = "Show CLI version",
}, show);
}
fn show(ctx: zli.CommandContext) !void {
std.debug.print("{?}\n", .{ctx.root.options.version});
}- Commands & subcommands
- Flags & shorthands
- Type-safe flag values
- Help/version auto handling
- Deprecation notices
- Positional args (required, optional, variadic)
- Pretty-aligned help for flags & args
- Named access:
ctx.getArg("name") - Clean usage output like Cobra
- Command aliases
- Persistent flags
MIT. See LICENSE. Contributions welcome.