ora vs inquirer
Interactive Command Line Interfaces Comparison
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What's Interactive Command Line Interfaces?

inquirer and ora are popular npm packages used in Node.js applications to enhance command-line interfaces (CLIs). While both packages improve user interaction, they serve different purposes. inquirer is a powerful library for creating interactive prompts, allowing developers to gather input from users through various types of questions, such as multiple-choice, text input, and confirmations. It is highly customizable and supports asynchronous operations, making it ideal for building complex CLI applications that require user input. On the other hand, ora is a lightweight spinner library that provides a simple way to indicate loading or processing states in the terminal. It adds a visually appealing spinner animation to the command line, helping to inform users that a task is in progress. ora is particularly useful for long-running operations where feedback is needed to keep users engaged and aware that the application is working. In summary, use inquirer when you need to collect input from users and ora when you want to provide visual feedback during time-consuming tasks.

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ora34,090,6819,34427.5 kB214 months agoMIT
inquirer33,772,78220,84472.5 kB478 days agoMIT
Feature Comparison: ora vs inquirer

User Input

  • ora:

    ora does not collect user input; instead, it provides a visual indicator (spinner) to show that a task is in progress. It helps keep users informed during long-running operations but does not interact with them directly.

  • inquirer:

    inquirer allows you to collect various types of input from users, including text, numbers, and selections. It supports multiple question types, such as input, confirm, list, and checkbox, making it versatile for different use cases.

Customization

  • ora:

    ora offers basic customization options for the spinner, such as changing the spinner style, text, and color. However, it is primarily focused on providing a simple and effective loading indicator with limited customization.

  • inquirer:

    inquirer is highly customizable, allowing developers to style prompts, validate input, and create dynamic questions based on previous answers. It supports asynchronous operations and can be easily integrated with other libraries.

Asynchronous Support

  • ora:

    ora is designed for use with asynchronous tasks, making it easy to show a spinner while waiting for a promise to resolve. It works well with async/await and callbacks, providing a seamless experience for indicating progress.

  • inquirer:

    inquirer supports asynchronous question handling, allowing you to perform tasks like fetching data or validating input while prompting the user. This feature is useful for creating interactive workflows that depend on real-time information.

Installation and Size

  • ora:

    ora is a small and lightweight package, making it quick to install and use. Its minimal size ensures that it does not significantly impact the overall performance of your CLI application.

  • inquirer:

    inquirer is a relatively lightweight package, but its size can increase with extensive customization and additional features. It is easy to install and integrate into any Node.js project.

Ease of Use: Code Examples

  • ora:

    Simple example of ora for showing a spinner:

    const ora = require('ora');

const spinner = ora('Loading...').start();

setTimeout(() => {
  spinner.succeed('Task completed!');
}, 3000);
  • inquirer:

    Simple example of inquirer for user input:

    const inquirer = require('inquirer');

const questions = [
  {
    type: 'input',
    name: 'username',
    message: 'What is your username?',
  },
  {
    type: 'confirm',
    name: 'continue',
    message: 'Do you want to continue?',
    default: true,
  },
];

inquirer.prompt(questions).then(answers => {
  console.log('User Input:', answers);
});
How to Choose: ora vs inquirer
  • ora:

    Choose ora if you want to add a spinner to your CLI application to indicate that a process is ongoing. It is perfect for long-running tasks where you want to provide visual feedback to users without requiring any input.

  • inquirer:

    Choose inquirer if your CLI application requires user input through prompts, such as selecting options, entering text, or confirming actions. It is ideal for interactive scripts that need to gather information from users.

Similar Npm Packages to ora

ora is a popular npm package used for creating elegant and customizable loading spinners in command-line applications. It provides a simple way to indicate that a process is ongoing, enhancing the user experience by giving visual feedback during operations that may take some time, such as data fetching or file processing. With its easy-to-use API, developers can integrate spinners into their CLI applications with minimal effort.

While ora is a great choice for adding spinners to command-line interfaces, there are alternative packages that also provide similar functionality:

  • cli-spinners is a lightweight library that offers a collection of spinners for use in command-line applications. It provides a variety of spinner styles that can be easily integrated into any CLI project. Unlike ora, which focuses on a single spinner with customization options, cli-spinners allows developers to choose from multiple spinner designs, giving them more flexibility in terms of aesthetics. This package is perfect for those who want to experiment with different spinner styles without the overhead of additional features.

  • simple-spinner is another alternative that provides a straightforward approach to adding spinners in command-line applications. It is designed to be minimalistic and easy to use, making it an excellent choice for developers who want a no-frills solution for indicating loading states. simple-spinner is particularly useful for small projects or scripts where a lightweight solution is preferred.

To explore how ora compares with cli-spinners and other alternatives, check out the comparison: Comparing cli-spinners vs ora.

Similar Npm Packages to inquirer

inquirer is a popular interactive command-line user interface (CLI) library for Node.js. It allows developers to create dynamic prompts for user input, making it easier to build interactive command-line applications. With a variety of prompt types, such as input, confirm, list, and checkbox, inquirer provides a flexible and user-friendly way to gather information from users in a terminal environment. Its extensive customization options and support for asynchronous operations make it a go-to choice for many developers looking to enhance their CLI applications.

However, there are alternatives to inquirer that also provide interactive prompt capabilities:

  • enquirer is a lightweight and fast alternative to inquirer. It is designed for performance and simplicity, offering a similar set of prompt types but with a more modern API. enquirer is particularly well-suited for projects that require a minimalistic approach without sacrificing functionality. Its focus on speed and ease of use makes it a great choice for developers looking to create interactive CLI applications quickly and efficiently.
  • prompt-sync is a synchronous prompt library for Node.js that allows developers to prompt users for input in a straightforward manner. Unlike inquirer and enquirer, which are asynchronous, prompt-sync operates in a blocking manner, making it easy to use in simple scripts where the flow of execution can be paused until user input is received. This can be particularly useful for quick scripts or when working in environments where asynchronous behavior is not required.

To see how inquirer compares with enquirer and prompt-sync, check out the comparison: Comparing enquirer vs inquirer vs prompt-sync.

README for ora

ora

Elegant terminal spinner



Install

npm install ora

Check out yocto-spinner for a smaller alternative.

Usage

import ora from 'ora';

const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();

setTimeout(() => {
	spinner.color = 'yellow';
	spinner.text = 'Loading rainbows';
}, 1000);

API

ora(text)

ora(options)

If a string is provided, it is treated as a shortcut for options.text.

options

Type: object

text

Type: string

The text to display next to the spinner.

prefixText

Type: string | () => string

Text or a function that returns text to display before the spinner. No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

suffixText

Type: string | () => string

Text or a function that returns text to display after the spinner text. No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

spinner

Type: string | object
Default: 'dots'

The name of one of the provided spinners. See example.js in this repo if you want to test out different spinners. On Windows (except for Windows Terminal), it will always use the line spinner as the Windows command-line doesn't have proper Unicode support.

Or an object like:

{
	frames: ['-', '+', '-'],
	interval: 80 // Optional
}
color

Type: string | boolean
Default: 'cyan'
Values: 'black' | 'red' | 'green' | 'yellow' | 'blue' | 'magenta' | 'cyan' | 'white' | 'gray' | boolean

The color of the spinner.

hideCursor

Type: boolean
Default: true

Set to false to stop Ora from hiding the cursor.

indent

Type: number
Default: 0

Indent the spinner with the given number of spaces.

interval

Type: number
Default: Provided by the spinner or 100

Interval between each frame.

Spinners provide their own recommended interval, so you don't really need to specify this.

stream

Type: stream.Writable
Default: process.stderr

Stream to write the output.

You could for example set this to process.stdout instead.

isEnabled

Type: boolean

Force enable/disable the spinner. If not specified, the spinner will be enabled if the stream is being run inside a TTY context (not spawned or piped) and/or not in a CI environment.

Note that {isEnabled: false} doesn't mean it won't output anything. It just means it won't output the spinner, colors, and other ansi escape codes. It will still log text.

isSilent

Type: boolean
Default: false

Disable the spinner and all log text. All output is suppressed and isEnabled will be considered false.

discardStdin

Type: boolean
Default: true

Discard stdin input (except Ctrl+C) while running if it's TTY. This prevents the spinner from twitching on input, outputting broken lines on Enter key presses, and prevents buffering of input while the spinner is running.

This has no effect on Windows as there is no good way to implement discarding stdin properly there.

Instance

.text get/set

Change the text displayed after the spinner.

.prefixText get/set

Change the text before the spinner.

No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

.suffixText get/set

Change the text after the spinner text.

No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

.color get/set

Change the spinner color.

.spinner get/set

Change the spinner.

.indent get/set

Change the spinner indent.

.isSpinning get

A boolean indicating whether the instance is currently spinning.

.interval get

The interval between each frame.

The interval is decided by the chosen spinner.

.start(text?)

Start the spinner. Returns the instance. Set the current text if text is provided.

.stop()

Stop and clear the spinner. Returns the instance.

.succeed(text?)

Stop the spinner, change it to a green ✔ and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.

.fail(text?)

Stop the spinner, change it to a red ✖ and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.

.warn(text?)

Stop the spinner, change it to a yellow ⚠ and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance.

.info(text?)

Stop the spinner, change it to a blue ℹ and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance.

.stopAndPersist(options?)

Stop the spinner and change the symbol or text. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.

options

Type: object

symbol

Type: string
Default: ' '

Symbol to replace the spinner with.

text

Type: string
Default: Current 'text'

Text to be persisted after the symbol.

prefixText

Type: string | () => string
Default: Current prefixText

Text or a function that returns text to be persisted before the symbol. No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

suffixText

Type: string | () => string
Default: Current suffixText

Text or a function that returns text to be persisted after the text after the symbol. No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.

.clear()

Clear the spinner. Returns the instance.

.render()

Manually render a new frame. Returns the instance.

.frame()

Get a new frame.

oraPromise(action, text)

oraPromise(action, options)

Starts a spinner for a promise or promise-returning function. The spinner is stopped with .succeed() if the promise fulfills or with .fail() if it rejects. Returns the promise.

import {oraPromise} from 'ora';

await oraPromise(somePromise);

action

Type: Promise | ((spinner: ora.Ora) => Promise)

options

Type: object

All of the options plus the following:

successText

Type: string | ((result: T) => string) | undefined

The new text of the spinner when the promise is resolved.

Keeps the existing text if undefined.

failText

Type: string | ((error: Error) => string) | undefined

The new text of the spinner when the promise is rejected.

Keeps the existing text if undefined.

spinners

Type: Record<string, Spinner>

All provided spinners.

FAQ

How do I change the color of the text?

Use chalk or yoctocolors:

import ora from 'ora';
import chalk from 'chalk';

const spinner = ora(`Loading ${chalk.red('unicorns')}`).start();

Why does the spinner freeze?

JavaScript is single-threaded, so any synchronous operations will block the spinner's animation. To avoid this, prefer using asynchronous operations.

Related

Ports

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