box-logger

A simple utility for creating formatted text boxes, headers, and lines in the terminal.

Installation

``bash
npm install @davidwells/box-logger
`

Usage

$3

Create a box around text with customizable borders, padding, and styling.

`javascript
const { makeBox, logBox } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

// Simple usage with a string
console.log(makeBox('Hello World'))

// With options
console.log(makeBox({
content: 'Hello World',
textAlign: 'center',
paddingLeft: 4,
paddingRight: 4,
borderColor: 'green',
borderStyle: 'bold'
}))

// With title and content
console.log(makeBox({
title: 'My Title',
content: 'Box content here',
borderStyle: 'rounded'
}))

// Hex colors are supported
console.log(makeBox({
content: 'Custom colors',
borderColor: '#4287f5',
backgroundColor: '#1a1a2e'
}))

// Dynamic content - function receives { innerWidth } for sizing
console.log(makeBox({
title: 'Dynamic Width',
content: ({ innerWidth }) => generateContent({ width: innerWidth }),
paddingLeft: 1,
paddingRight: 0
}))

// Async content - use makeBoxAsync for async functions
const box = await makeBoxAsync({
title: 'Async Content',
content: async ({ innerWidth }) => await fetchData({ width: innerWidth })
})
console.log(box)

// Call logger directly
logBox('Log the box directly')
`

#### Box Options

| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|--------|------|---------|-------------|
| content | string \| Section \| function | - | Content (or function receiving { innerWidth }) |
| title | string \| Section | - | Title section at top of box |
| fontStyle | 'normal' \| 'bold' | 'normal' | Font style |
| textAlign | 'left' \| 'center' \| 'right' | 'left' | Text alignment |
| color | string | - | Text color (chalk color or hex like '#ff0000') |
| backgroundColor | string | - | Background color (chalk color or hex) |
| paddingTop | number | 0 | Newlines before content |
| paddingBottom | number | 0 | Newlines after content |
| paddingLeft | number | 2 | Spaces for left padding |
| paddingRight | number | 2 | Spaces for right padding |
| borderColor | string | - | Border color (chalk color or hex) |
| borderStyle | string | 'normal' | Border style (see below) |
| borderTop | boolean | true | Show top border |
| borderBottom | boolean | true | Show bottom border |
| borderLeft | boolean | true | Show left border |
| borderRight | boolean | true | Show right border |
| borderText | string | - | Text embedded in top border |
| borderTextColor | string | - | Color for border text |
| borderTextAlign | 'left' \| 'center' \| 'right' | 'left' | Border text alignment |
| width | number \| string | - | Fixed width |
| minWidth | number \| string | - | Minimum width ('100%' for full width) |
| maxWidth | number \| string | terminal width | Maximum width |
| marginTop | number | 0 | Newlines before box |
| marginBottom | number | 0 | Newlines after box |
| marginLeft | number | 0 | Spaces before each line |
| wrapText | boolean | true | Wrap text to fit inside box |
| type | string | - | Box type: 'success', 'error', 'warning', 'info' |
| icon | string | - | Custom icon |
| header | boolean | false | Header mode (no left border) |
| edges | object | - | Custom border symbols |

#### Border Styles

- normal - Standard box drawing characters (─│┌┐└┘)
- rounded - Rounded corners (╭╮╰╯)
- bold - Heavy weight borders (━┃┏┓┗┛)
- double - Double line borders (═║╔╗╚╝)
- dashed - Dashed horizontal lines (╌)
- dotted - Dotted horizontal lines (┈)
- thick - Block characters (█▀▄)
- half-thick - Half block borders (▐▌▔▂)
- ultra-thick - Full block borders (█)
- ascii - ASCII fallback (-|+)
- dots - Bullet dots (•)
- circles - Hollow circles (○)
- stars - Sparkle stars (✨)
- triple - Triple lines (≡)
- transparent - Invisible borders (spaces)
- none - No borders at all
- filled - For use with backgroundColor

#### Section Object

Title and content can be strings or Section objects for more control:

`javascript
makeBox({
title: {
left: 'Title',
right: 'v1.0.0',
fontStyle: 'bold',
color: 'cyan'
},
content: {
left: 'Description',
right: 'Status: OK',
color: 'green'
}
})
`

Section properties: left, right, center, color, fontStyle, paddingLeft, paddingRight, paddingTop, paddingBottom, truncate

$3

Stack multiple boxes vertically with shared borders:

`javascript
const { makeStackedBoxes } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

console.log(makeStackedBoxes([
{ title: 'Box 1', content: 'First box content' },
{ title: 'Box 2', content: 'Second box content' },
{ title: 'Box 3', content: 'Third box content' }
], {
borderStyle: 'rounded',
borderColor: 'cyan'
}))
`

$3

Render boxes side by side:

`javascript
const { makeHorizontalBoxes } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

console.log(makeHorizontalBoxes([
{ content: 'Left box' },
{ content: 'Middle box' },
{ content: 'Right box' }
], {
gap: 2,
mergeBoxes: true // Merge adjacent borders
}))
`

Options: gap, marginLeft, connectRows, justifyContent ('flex-start', 'flex-end', 'space-between'), wrap, mergeBoxes

$3

Create a header (box with no left border):

`javascript
const { makeHeader, logHeader } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

// Simple usage
console.log(makeHeader('Hello World'))

// With options
console.log(makeHeader({
content: 'Hello World',
borderColor: 'blue'
}))

// Typed variants
logHeader.success('Operation completed')
logHeader.error('An error occurred')
logHeader.warning('Please be careful')
logHeader.info('Information')
`

Header uses the same options as Box (it's just header: true under the hood).

$3

Create horizontal lines with optional text:

`javascript
const { makeLine, logLine } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

// Simple line
console.log(makeLine())

// Line with centered text
console.log(makeLine('Section Title'))

// Line with options
console.log(makeLine({
text: 'Styled text',
fontStyle: 'bold',
borderColor: 'green'
}))

// Left and right text
console.log(makeLine({
left: 'Section',
right: 'v1.2.3',
borderColor: 'cyan'
}))

// All three positions
console.log(makeLine({
left: 'Left',
center: 'Center',
right: 'Right'
}))
`

#### Line Options

| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|--------|------|---------|-------------|
| text | string | - | Text to display (use with textAlign) |
| left | string | - | Left-aligned text |
| right | string | - | Right-aligned text |
| center | string | - | Center-aligned text |
| color | string | - | Text color |
| backgroundColor | string | - | Background color for text |
| lineBackgroundColor | string | - | Background for entire line |
| fontStyle | 'normal' \| 'bold' | 'normal' | Font style |
| borderColor | string | - | Line color |
| borderStyle | string | 'normal' | Line style |
| textAlign | 'left' \| 'center' \| 'right' | 'center' | Text alignment |
| paddingLeft | number | 4 | Left padding |
| paddingRight | number | 4 | Right padding |
| minWidth | number \| string | - | Minimum width |
| maxWidth | number \| string | terminal width | Maximum width |
| lines | number | - | Generate multiple blank lines |

$3

All log functions have typed variants with automatic icons and colors:

`javascript
const { logBox, logHeader, logLine } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

// Box variants
logBox.success('Operation completed successfully')
logBox.error('An error occurred')
logBox.warning('Please be careful')
logBox.info('Here is some information')

// Header variants
logHeader.success('Success!')
logHeader.error('Error!')

// Line variants
logLine.success('Success line')
logLine.error('Error line')
`

$3

Pass an Error object to logBox for formatted error display:

`javascript
try {
throw new Error('Something went wrong')
} catch (err) {
logBox.error(err) // Shows error name, message, and cleaned stack trace
}
`

Examples

$3

`
┌─────────────┐
│ Hello World │
└─────────────┘
`

$3

`
╭──────────────────────╮
│ My Title │
├──────────────────────┤
│ Content goes here │
╰──────────────────────╯
`

$3

`
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓
┃ Hello World ┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
`

$3

`
──────────────────────────────┐
Hello World │
──────────────────────────────┘
`

$3

`
────────── Section Title ──────────
`

$3

`
──── Section ──────────── v1.2.3 ────
`

Utilities

$3

Get the current terminal dimensions:

`javascript
const { terminalSize } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

const { columns, rows } = terminalSize()
console.log(Terminal is ${columns}x${rows})
`

$3

Calculate the inner content width for a box configuration:

`javascript
const { getInnerWidth } = require('@davidwells/box-logger')

const innerWidth = getInnerWidth({
paddingLeft: 1,
paddingRight: 0,
marginLeft: 5
})
// Use innerWidth to pre-size content before calling makeBox
``

License

MIT

Other rendering libs

- https://github.com/tecfu/tty-table
- https://www.npmjs.com/package/boxen