cobra-cli-template

A template for building Go CLIs with Cobra using a test-first workflow.

Stack

• CLI framework: spf13/cobra
• Test runner: onsi/ginkgo
• Assertions: stretchr/testify/assert
• Utility: samber/lo
• Validation: kaptinlin/gozod
• Mode Management: louiss0/g-tools/mode

Create a Project

git clone https://github.com/louiss0/cobra-cli-template .

or

gh repo create <project-name> --template louiss0/cobra-cli-template --public --clone

Run Tests

ginkgo run ./...

ginkgo watch ./...

Rename Template Project

go run ./scripts/rename-project

The script infers the new project name from the folder you run it in.

go run ./scripts/rename-project -project-name my-cli

-module-path is optional. If omitted, it infers your current module from go.mod and swaps only the last path segment to <project-name>.

Add Commands

1. Add a file in cmd/.
2. Create a New<CommandName>() *cobra.Command constructor.
3. Add flags in that constructor.
4. Register the command from NewRootCmd().
5. Add tests in the same package.

Notes

• Keep command behavior in RunE and return explicit errors.
• This template includes custom_flags for cmd.Flags().Var(...) use cases.
• custom_errors centralizes reusable error values.