cli-progress vs cli-spinners vs ora vs progress
Node.js CLI Progress Indicators
cli-progresscli-spinnersoraprogressSimilar Packages:

Node.js CLI Progress Indicators

These packages provide various ways to display progress indicators in command-line interfaces (CLI) for Node.js applications. They enhance user experience by visually representing ongoing processes, making it easier for users to understand the status of long-running tasks. Each package offers unique features and styles for progress indicators, allowing developers to choose one that best fits their application's needs.

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cli-progress01,24262.2 kB263 years agoMIT
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Feature Comparison: cli-progress vs cli-spinners vs ora vs progress

Customization

  • cli-progress:

    cli-progress offers extensive customization options, allowing you to define the format, colors, and behavior of the progress bar. You can create multiple progress bars and control their appearance and updates individually, making it suitable for complex applications.

  • cli-spinners:

    cli-spinners provides a selection of predefined spinner styles but offers limited customization compared to cli-progress. It focuses on simplicity and ease of use, allowing you to quickly add spinners without much configuration.

  • ora:

    ora allows for some customization of spinner styles and text, but it is primarily designed for simplicity and ease of use. You can change the spinner type and add messages, but it does not offer as much flexibility as cli-progress.

  • progress:

    progress is straightforward with minimal customization options. It allows you to set the total value and current progress but does not support advanced styling or multiple progress indicators.

Ease of Use

  • cli-progress:

    cli-progress has a steeper learning curve due to its extensive features and customization options. However, once understood, it provides powerful tools for creating complex progress indicators.

  • cli-spinners:

    cli-spinners is very easy to use and requires minimal setup. You can quickly implement it in your application with just a few lines of code, making it ideal for beginners.

  • ora:

    ora is designed for simplicity and ease of use, allowing developers to quickly add loading indicators with minimal code. It is user-friendly and suitable for all experience levels.

  • progress:

    progress is also very easy to use, with a simple API that allows you to create a basic progress bar with just a few lines of code. It is perfect for quick implementations.

Visual Appeal

  • cli-progress:

    cli-progress offers a visually appealing and highly customizable progress bar that can be styled to fit the aesthetics of your application. It supports colors and formatting, making it suitable for polished applications.

  • cli-spinners:

    cli-spinners provides a variety of animated spinner styles that can enhance the visual appeal of your CLI application. The animations are smooth and can add a professional touch to your interface.

  • ora:

    ora features a clean and minimalist design for loading indicators, making it visually appealing without being overwhelming. It focuses on providing a pleasant user experience with simple animations.

  • progress:

    progress offers a basic progress bar that is functional but less visually appealing compared to cli-progress. It is straightforward but may not stand out in terms of design.

Performance

  • cli-progress:

    cli-progress is optimized for performance, allowing for smooth updates even with multiple progress bars. It efficiently handles rendering and updates, making it suitable for high-performance applications.

  • cli-spinners:

    cli-spinners is lightweight and performs well, providing quick and responsive animations without significant overhead. It is ideal for applications where performance is a concern.

  • ora:

    ora is also lightweight and performs well, providing a responsive loading indicator that does not impact the application's performance. It is suitable for applications that require minimal resource usage.

  • progress:

    progress is efficient for basic use cases, but it may not perform as well as cli-progress when handling multiple progress indicators or complex updates.

Use Cases

  • cli-progress:

    cli-progress is best suited for applications that require detailed progress tracking, such as file uploads, downloads, or long-running tasks where multiple indicators are needed.

  • cli-spinners:

    cli-spinners is ideal for applications that need simple loading indicators, such as CLI tools that perform quick tasks or asynchronous operations.

  • ora:

    ora is perfect for command-line applications that require a simple loading indicator while waiting for asynchronous operations, such as API calls or database queries.

  • progress:

    progress is suitable for basic applications where you need to provide feedback on the progress of a task, such as batch processing or simple file operations.

How to Choose: cli-progress vs cli-spinners vs ora vs progress

  • cli-progress:

    Choose cli-progress if you need a highly customizable and flexible progress bar that supports multiple bars, can be styled, and provides detailed control over the output format and behavior.

  • cli-spinners:

    Select cli-spinners if you want a simple way to add animated spinners to your CLI applications. It offers a variety of spinner styles and is easy to implement, making it ideal for lightweight applications needing basic loading indicators.

  • ora:

    Opt for ora if you require a straightforward and elegant way to show loading indicators with a focus on simplicity and minimalism. It is particularly useful for displaying status messages alongside spinners, making it great for tasks that involve waiting for asynchronous operations.

  • progress:

    Use progress if you need a simple and straightforward progress bar that is easy to implement and requires minimal configuration. It is suitable for basic use cases where you want to provide feedback on the progress of a task without extensive customization.

README for cli-progress

Build Status

Single Bar | Multi Bar | Options | Examples | Presets | Events

CLI-Progress

easy to use progress-bar for command-line/terminal applications

Demo

Demo

Install

$ yarn add cli-progress
$ npm install cli-progress --save

Features

  • Simple, Robust and Easy to use
  • Full customizable output format (various placeholders are available)
  • Single progressbar mode
  • Multi progessbar mode
  • Custom Bar Characters
  • FPS limiter
  • ETA calculation based on elapsed time
  • Custom Tokens to display additional data (payload) within the bar
  • TTY and NOTTY mode
  • No callbacks required - designed as pure, external controlled UI widget
  • Works in Asynchronous and Synchronous tasks
  • Preset/Theme support
  • Custom bar formatters (via callback)
  • Logging during multibar operation

Usage

Multiple examples are available e.g. example.js - just try it $ node example.js

const cliProgress = require('cli-progress');

// create a new progress bar instance and use shades_classic theme
const bar1 = new cliProgress.SingleBar({}, cliProgress.Presets.shades_classic);

// start the progress bar with a total value of 200 and start value of 0
bar1.start(200, 0);

// update the current value in your application..
bar1.update(100);

// stop the progress bar
bar1.stop();

Single Bar Mode

Demo

Example

const cliProgress = require('cli-progress');

// note: you have to install this dependency manually since it's not required by cli-progress
const colors = require('ansi-colors');

// create new progress bar
const b1 = new cliProgress.SingleBar({
    format: 'CLI Progress |' + colors.cyan('{bar}') + '| {percentage}% || {value}/{total} Chunks || Speed: {speed}',
    barCompleteChar: '\u2588',
    barIncompleteChar: '\u2591',
    hideCursor: true
});

// initialize the bar - defining payload token "speed" with the default value "N/A"
b1.start(200, 0, {
    speed: "N/A"
});

// update values
b1.increment();
b1.update(20);

// stop the bar
b1.stop();

Constructor

Initialize a new Progress bar. An instance can be used multiple times! it's not required to re-create it!

const cliProgress = require('cli-progress');

const <instance> = new cliProgress.SingleBar(options:object [, preset:object]);

Options

::start()

Starts the progress bar and set the total and initial value

<instance>.start(totalValue:int, startValue:int [, payload:object = {}]);

::update()

Sets the current progress value and optionally the payload with values of custom tokens as a second parameter. To update payload only, set currentValue to null.

<instance>.update([currentValue:int [, payload:object = {}]]);

// update progress without altering value
<instance>.update([payload:object = {}]);

::increment()

Increases the current progress value by a specified amount (default +1). Update payload optionally

<instance>.increment([delta:int [, payload:object = {}]]);

// delta=1 assumed
<instance>.increment(payload:object = {}]);

::setTotal()

Sets the total progress value while progressbar is active. Especially useful handling dynamic tasks.

<instance>.setTotal(totalValue:int);

::stop()

Stops the progress bar and go to next line

<instance>.stop();

::updateETA()

Force eta calculation update (long running processes) without altering the progress values.

Note: you may want to increase etaBuffer size - otherwise it can cause INF eta values in case the value didn't changed within the time series.

<instance>.updateETA();

Multi Bar Mode

Demo

Example

const cliProgress = require('cli-progress');

// create new container
const multibar = new cliProgress.MultiBar({
    clearOnComplete: false,
    hideCursor: true,
    format: ' {bar} | {filename} | {value}/{total}',
}, cliProgress.Presets.shades_grey);

// add bars
const b1 = multibar.create(200, 0);
const b2 = multibar.create(1000, 0);

// control bars
b1.increment();
b2.update(20, {filename: "test1.txt"});
b1.update(20, {filename: "helloworld.txt"});

// stop all bars
multibar.stop();

Constructor

Initialize a new multiprogress container. Bars need to be added. The options/presets are used for each single bar!

const cliProgress = require('cli-progress');

const <instance> = new cliProgress.MultiBar(options:object [, preset:object]);

::create()

Adds a new progress bar to the container and starts the bar. Returns regular SingleBar object which can be individually controlled.

Additional barOptions can be passed directly to the generic-bar to override the global options for a single bar instance. This can be useful to change the appearance of a single bar object. But be patient: this should only be used to override formats - DON'T try to set other global options like the terminal, synchronous flags, etc..

const <barInstance> = <instance>.create(totalValue:int, startValue:int [, payload:object = {} [, barOptions:object = {}]]);

::remove()

Removes an existing bar from the multi progress container.

<instance>.remove(<barInstance>:object);

::stop()

Stops the all progress bars

<instance>.stop();

::log()

Outputs (buffered) content on top of the multibars during operation.

Notice: newline at the end is required

Example: example-logging.js

<instance>.log("Hello World\n");

Options

The following options can be changed

  • format (type:string|function) - progress bar output format @see format section
  • fps (type:float) - the maximum update rate (default: 10)
  • stream (type:stream) - output stream to use (default: process.stderr)
  • stopOnComplete (type:boolean) - automatically call stop() when the value reaches the total (default: false)
  • clearOnComplete (type:boolean) - clear the progress bar on complete / stop() call (default: false)
  • barsize (type:int) - the length of the progress bar in chars (default: 40)
  • align (type:char) - position of the progress bar - 'left' (default), 'right' or 'center'
  • barCompleteChar (type:char) - character to use as "complete" indicator in the bar (default: "=")
  • barIncompleteChar (type:char) - character to use as "incomplete" indicator in the bar (default: "-")
  • hideCursor (type:boolean) - hide the cursor during progress operation; restored on complete (default: false) - pass null to keep terminal settings
  • linewrap (type:boolean) - disable line wrapping (default: false) - pass null to keep terminal settings; pass true to add linebreaks automatically (not recommended)
  • gracefulExit (type:boolean) - stop the bars in case of SIGINT or SIGTERM - this restores most cursor settings before exiting (default: true)
  • etaBuffer (type:int) - number of updates with which to calculate the eta; higher numbers give a more stable eta (default: 10)
  • etaAsynchronousUpdate (type:boolean) - trigger an eta calculation update during asynchronous rendering trigger using the current value - should only be used for long running processes in conjunction with lof fps values and large etaBuffer (default: false)
  • progressCalculationRelative (type:boolean) - progress calculation uses startValue as zero-offset (default: false)
  • synchronousUpdate (type:boolean) - trigger redraw during update() in case threshold time x2 is exceeded (default: true) - limited to single bar usage
  • noTTYOutput (type:boolean) - enable scheduled output to notty streams - e.g. redirect to files (default: false)
  • notTTYSchedule (type:int) - set the output schedule/interval for notty output in ms (default: 2000ms)
  • emptyOnZero (type:boolean) - display progress bars with 'total' of zero(0) as empty, not full (default: false)
  • forceRedraw (type:boolean) - trigger redraw on every frame even if progress remains the same; can be useful if progress bar gets overwritten by other concurrent writes to the terminal (default: false)
  • barGlue (type:string) - a "glue" string between the complete and incomplete bar elements used to insert ascii control sequences for colorization (default: empty) - Note: in case you add visible "glue" characters the barsize will be increased by the length of the glue!
  • autopadding (type: boolean) - add padding chars to formatted time and percentage to force fixed width (default: false) - Note: handled standard format functions!
  • autopaddingChar (type: string) - the character sequence used for autopadding (default: " ") - Note: due to performance optimizations this value requires a length of 3 identical chars
  • formatBar (type: function) - a custom bar formatter function which renders the bar-element (default: format-bar.js)
  • formatTime (type: function) - a custom timer formatter function which renders the formatted time elements like eta_formatted and duration-formatted (default: format-time.js)
  • formatValue (type: function) - a custom value formatter function which renders all other values (default: format-value.js)

Events

The classes extends EventEmitter which allows you to hook into different events.

See event docs for detailed information + examples.

Bar Formatting

The progressbar can be customized by using the following build-in placeholders. They can be combined in any order.

  • {bar} - the progress bar, customizable by the options barsize, barCompleteString and barIncompleteString
  • {percentage} - the current progress in percent (0-100)
  • {total} - the end value
  • {value} - the current value set by last update() call
  • {eta} - expected time of accomplishment in seconds (limmited to 115days, otherwise INF is displayed)
  • {duration} - elapsed time in seconds
  • {eta_formatted} - expected time of accomplishment formatted into appropriate units
  • {duration_formatted} - elapsed time formatted into appropriate units
  • {<payloadKeyName>} - the payload value identified by its key

Example

const opt = {
    format: 'progress [{bar}] {percentage}% | ETA: {eta}s | {value}/{total}'
}

is rendered as

progress [========================================] 100% | ETA: 0s | 200/200

Custom formatters

Instead of a "static" format string it is also possible to pass a custom callback function as formatter. For a full example (including params) take a look on lib/formatter.js

Example 1

function formatter(options, params, payload){

    // bar grows dynamically by current progress - no whitespaces are added
    const bar = options.barCompleteString.substr(0, Math.round(params.progress*options.barsize));

    // end value reached ?
    // change color to green when finished
    if (params.value >= params.total){
        return '# ' + colors.grey(payload.task) + '   ' + colors.green(params.value + '/' + params.total) + ' --[' + bar + ']-- ';
    }else{
        return '# ' + payload.task + '   ' + colors.yellow(params.value + '/' + params.total) + ' --[' + bar + ']-- ';
    }
}

const opt = {
    format: formatter
}

is rendered as

# Task 1     0/200 --[]--
# Task 1     98/200 --[████████████████████]--
# Task 1     200/200 --[████████████████████████████████████████]--

Example 2

You can also access the default format functions to use them within your formatter:

const {TimeFormat, ValueFormat, BarFormat, Formatter} = require('cli-progess').Format;
...

Examples

Example 1 - Set Options

// change the progress characters
// set fps limit to 5
// change the output stream and barsize
const bar = new _progress.Bar({
    barCompleteChar: '#',
    barIncompleteChar: '.',
    fps: 5,
    stream: process.stdout,
    barsize: 65,
    position: 'center'
});

Example 2 - Change Styles defined by Preset

// uee shades preset
// change the barsize
const bar = new _progress.Bar({
    barsize: 65,
    position: 'right'
}, _progress.Presets.shades_grey);

Example 3 - Custom Payload

The payload object keys should only contain keys matching standard \w+ regex!

// create new progress bar with custom token "speed"
const bar = new _progress.Bar({
    format: 'progress [{bar}] {percentage}% | ETA: {eta}s | {value}/{total} | Speed: {speed} kbit'
});

// initialize the bar - set payload token "speed" with the default value "N/A"
bar.start(200, 0, {
    speed: "N/A"
});

// some code/update loop
// ...

// update bar value. set custom token "speed" to 125
bar.update(5, {
    speed: '125'
});

// process finished
bar.stop();

Example 4 - Custom Presets

File myPreset.js

const colors = require('ansi-colors');

module.exports = {
    format: colors.red(' {bar}') + ' {percentage}% | ETA: {eta}s | {value}/{total} | Speed: {speed} kbit',
    barCompleteChar: '\u2588',
    barIncompleteChar: '\u2591'
};

Application

const myPreset = require('./myPreset.js');

const bar = new _progress.Bar({
    barsize: 65
}, myPreset);

Presets/Themes

Need a more modern appearance ? cli-progress supports predefined themes via presets. You are welcome to add your custom one :)

But keep in mind that a lot of the "special-chars" rely on Unicode - it might not work as expected on legacy systems.

Default Presets

The following presets are included by default

  • legacy - Styles as of cli-progress v1.3.0
  • shades-classic - Unicode background shades are used for the bar
  • shades-grey - Unicode background shades with grey bar
  • rect - Unicode Rectangles

Compatibility

cli-progress is designed for linux/macOS/container applications which mostly providing standard compliant tty terminals/shells. In non-tty mode it is suitable to be used with logging daemons (cyclic output).

It also works with PowerShell on Windows 10 - the legacy command prompt on outdated Windows versions won't work as expected and is not supported!

Any Questions ? Report a Bug ? Enhancements ?

Please open a new issue on GitHub

License

CLI-Progress is OpenSource and licensed under the Terms of The MIT License (X11). You're welcome to contribute!