[ TOPIC ]

cli-design

3 real merged PRs across 3 projects, ordered easiest to hardest. Read them in order to see how cli-design shows up in production code, then go deeper with the free papers and talks below.

[ 01 // REAL PRs ]

Next (mid) · 3

spring-projects/spring-boot7/10

Add jarmode tools command to print / export the SBOM

This PR demonstrates how to design and implement a robust CLI subcommand for extracting SBOMs from JARs, including manifest parsing, error handling, and comprehensive testing.

midcli-designerror-handlingtesting-strategy

argoproj/argo-cd7/10

feat(cli): optionally exclude status field when using `argocd admin export` command

This PR demonstrates how to add a CLI flag that changes export behavior, propagate it through code, update documentation, and write targeted tests for the new option.

midcli-designconfiguration-managementtesting-strategy

hashicorp/terraform7/10

fix(apply): Warn users when `apply` is passed plan options -target, -destroy and -refresh-only if they disagree with the saved plan in use.

This PR teaches how to handle user error and flag misuse in CLI tools while preserving backwards compatibility, including adding targeted warnings and robust tests.

miderror-handlingcli-designbackwards-compatibilitytesting-strategy

[ 02 // MUST-READ PAPERS ]

Free to read, ranked by citations.

The UNIX time-sharing system
Dennis M. Ritchie, Ken Thompson · Communications of the ACM · 1974
839 citationsfree PDF

[ 03 // FREE VIDEOS & TALKS ]

Ranked by views.

VCF East: UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan
Vintage Computer Federation · 2025 · 35,321 views