Aliases

Command Aliases

Aliases let you define a string that maps to a command. This command can be run as mycli config, mycli config:index, or mycli config:list:

import {Command, Flags} from '@oclif/core'

export class ConfigIndex extends Command {
  static aliases = ['config:index', 'config:list']
}

By default, aliases find the "real" command and just work. If you're providing command aliases for backward compatibility but prefer users to use the "real" command, set deprecateAliases to true to warn users about the correct name

export class ConfigIndex extends Command {
  static aliases = ['config:index', 'config:list']
  static deprecateAliases = true
}

Flag Aliases

Like command aliases, but on an individual flag. You can alias the name and short character, and optionally emit warnings when aliased names are used.

export class ConfigIndex extends Command {
  static flags = {
    'new-name': Flags.boolean({
      char: 'c',
      aliases: ['old-name', 'o'],
      deprecateAliases: true
    })
  }
}

Bin Aliases

Creating a CLI that responds to different names or "aliases" is easy, simply add a binAliases property to your CLI's oclif property in package.json:

{
  "name": "mycli",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "description": "My CLI",
  "main": "bin/run.js",
  "bin": {
    "mycli": "./bin/run.js",
    "mycli-alias": "./bin/run.js"
  },
  "oclif": {
    "binAliases": ["mycli", "mycli-alias"]
  }
}

Adding this property allows your CLI to respond to either of those names, and is used during the bundling and building process when shipping your CLI. Note that the bin section was also modified to include both aliases, which is how npm creates bin aliases. To create a unified experience, regardless of the installation method, a CLI author must change both to match. Bin aliases also play nicely with @oclif/plugin-autocomplete, so typing an alias and using autocomplete is the same experience as using the original name.