CLI Creator

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Someone describes a CLI
• TUI app they want to create — a dashboard
• A deployment tool
• A monitoring app

Example prompts

• “build me a CLI”
• “create a terminal app”
• “make a TUI for”
• “/cli-creator”

Requirements

• Node.js
• Docker

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Interview the user
2. 2Choose a CLI pattern
3. 3Scaffold the project
4. 4Write the code
5. 5Component reference quick-pick

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 44de57b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • npx
  • npm

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npx and npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

CLI Creator loads about 2.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~9.4k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 139 tokens; SKILL.md has 632 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~139

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.1k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~9.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from Arindam200/termui at commit 44de57b, republished under its MIT licence (© Arindam200). 632 words, ~2,066 tokens.

name

cli-creator

description

Build a complete, working CLI tool using TermUI components. Use this skill whenever someone describes a CLI or TUI app they want to create — a dashboard, a setup wizard, a data browser, a deployment tool, a monitoring app, or any interactive terminal interface. Trigger on phrases like "build me a CLI", "create a terminal app", "make a TUI for", "I want a command-line tool that", "build a CLI that shows", or any request to generate a Node.js CLI from scratch. Even vague requests like "I need a CLI for my project" should trigger this skill.

<project-name>/
├── package.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── src/
│   ├── index.tsx          ← entry point: render(<App />) wrapped in ThemeProvider
│   ├── app.tsx            ← root App component, handles routing between screens
│   ├── screens/           ← one file per top-level screen/view
│   │   ├── HomeScreen.tsx
│   │   └── DetailScreen.tsx
│   └── components/        ← TermUI components land here after npx termui add
│       └── (added by CLI)
└── termui.config.json     ← created by npx termui init

{
  "name": "<project-name>",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "type": "module",
  "bin": { "<project-name>": "./dist/index.js" },
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "tsx src/index.tsx",
    "build": "tsc",
    "start": "node dist/index.js"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "ink": "^5.0.0",
    "react": "^18.0.0",
    "termui": "latest"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "typescript": "^5.4.0",
    "tsx": "^4.7.0",
    "@types/react": "^18.0.0"
  },
  "engines": { "node": ">=18.0.0" }
}

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "jsxImportSource": "react",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "outDir": "dist"
  },
  "include": ["src"]
}

cd <project-name>
npm install
npx termui init                     # sets up termui.config.json
npx termui add <component-list>     # install exactly the components you're using
npm run dev                         # run with tsx (hot-reloading)

#!/usr/bin/env node
import React from 'react';
import { render } from 'ink';
import { ThemeProvider } from 'termui/core';
import { draculaTheme } from 'termui/core';
import { App } from './app.js';

render(
  <ThemeProvider theme={draculaTheme}>
    <App />
  </ThemeProvider>
);

import React, { useState } from 'react';

type Screen = 'home' | 'detail' | 'create';

export function App() {
  const [screen, setScreen] = useState<Screen>('home');
  const [selectedId, setSelectedId] = useState<string | null>(null);

  if (screen === 'detail' && selectedId) {
    return <DetailScreen id={selectedId} onBack={() => setScreen('home')} />;
  }
  if (screen === 'create') {
    return <CreateScreen onDone={() => setScreen('home')} />;
  }
  return (
    <HomeScreen
      onSelect={(id) => {
        setSelectedId(id);
        setScreen('detail');
      }}
      onCreate={() => setScreen('create')}
    />
  );
}

useInput((input, key) => {
  if (input === 'q' || (key.ctrl && input === 'c')) process.exit(0);
  if (key.escape) onBack?.();
});

© Arindam200, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in skills/cli-creator of Arindam200/termui.

• SKILL.md
• references/component-picker.md
• references/patterns.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 44de57b