Error handler for CLI applications.

Features

- 🖍️ Pretty colors, icons and header
- 💣 Error class-specific and custom handling
- 🚒 Graceful exit
- ⛑️ Normalize invalid errors
- 🔕 Log verbosity: message, stack,
nested errors, properties
- 🚨 Custom exit code and log function
- 💥 Exception-safe

Screenshot

Example

General

``js
#!/usr/bin/env node
import handleCliError from 'handle-cli-error'

const cliMain = () => {
try {
// ...
} catch (error) {
handleCliError(error) // Logs error then exit the process
}
}

cliMain()
`

Error class-specific

`js
handleCliError(error, {
classes: {
InputError: { exitCode: 1, stack: false },
DatabaseError: { exitCode: 2, stack: false },
default: { exitCode: 3 },
},
})
`

Install

`bash
npm install handle-cli-error
`

This package works in Node.js >=18.18.0.

This is an ES module. It must be loaded using
an import or import() statement,
not require(). If TypeScript is used, it must be configured to
output ES modules,
not CommonJS.

API

handleCliError(error, options?)

error any\
options Options?\
_Return value_: undefined

Logs error on the console (stderr) then exits the process.

This never throws. Invalid errors are silently
normalized.

$3

#### 🚨 exitCode

_Type_: integer\
_Default_: 1

Process exit code.

We recommend values between 1 and 124 because the following exit codes have some
special meaning:

- 0: success
- 125: invalid options
- 126 to 255: used by shells like Bash

#### 📕 stack

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: true

Whether to log the error's stack trace.

#### 🪏 cause

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: true

Whether to show nested errors, i.e.
error.cause
and
error.errors.

#### 📢 props

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: true

Whether to log the error's additional properties.

#### 🔕 silent

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: false

Exits the process without logging anything on the console.

#### 🖍️ colors

_Type_: boolean\
_Default_: true in terminals, false otherwise

Whether to colorize the error's message, stack trace and additional properties.

Quoted strings in the error's message are printed in bold (for "..." and
'...') and in italic (for ... ).

#### ❌ icon

_Type_: string\
_Default_: 'cross'

Icon prepended to the error's name. The available values are listed
here.
Can be disabled by passing an empty string.

#### 💄 header

_Type_: string\
_Default_: 'red bold'

Color/style of the error's icon and name. The available values are
listed here. Several
styles can be specified by using spaces. Can be disabled by passing an empty
string.

#### 🚒 timeout

_Type_: integer (in milliseconds)\
_Default_: 5000 (5 seconds)

The process exits gracefully: it waits for any ongoing tasks (callbacks,
promises, etc.) to complete, up to a specific timeout.

Special values:

- 0: Exits right away, without waiting for ongoing tasks
- Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY: Waits for ongoing tasks forever, without timing
out

#### 📜 log

_Type_: (string) => void\
_Default_: console.error

Function used to print the error message.

#### 💣 classes

_Type_: object\
_Default_: {}

Specify different options per error class. The object:

- Keys are either the
error.name,
or "default" (used if no error.name matches)
- Values are options objects

#### 🪛 custom

_Type_: string | symbol\
_Default_: beautiful

Name of a method to map the output. That method must take the output as a string
argument, transform it then return it.

`js
class ExampleError extends Error {
beautiful(output) {
return output.replaceAll('secret', '*')
}
}

const error = new ExampleError('Unknown value: secret')
handleCliError(error) // 'Unknown value: *'
`

Related projects

- modern-errors: Handle errors in
a simple, stable, consistent way
- modern-errors-cli: Handle
errors in CLI modules
- modern-errors-beautiful:
Prettify errors messages and stacks
- error-custom-class: Create
one error class
- error-class-utils: Utilities
to properly create error classes
- error-serializer: Convert
errors to/from plain objects
- normalize-exception:
Normalize exceptions/errors
- is-error-instance: Check if
a value is an Error instance
- merge-error-cause: Merge an
error with its cause
- set-error-class: Properly
update an error's class
- set-error-message: Properly
update an error's message
- wrap-error-message:
Properly wrap an error's message
- set-error-props: Properly
update an error's properties
- set-error-stack: Properly
update an error's stack
- error-cause-polyfill:
Polyfill error.cause
- beautiful-error: Prettify
error messages and stacks
- log-process-errors: Show
some ❤ to Node.js process errors
- error-http-response:
Create HTTP error responses
- winston-error-format: Log
errors with Winston

Credits

The logo background was created by
dgim-studio.

Support

For any question, _don't hesitate_ to submit an issue on GitHub.

Everyone is welcome regardless of personal background. We enforce a
Code of conduct in order to promote a positive and
inclusive environment.

Contributing

This project was made with ❤️. The simplest way to give back is by starring and
sharing it online.

If the documentation is unclear or has a typo, please click on the page's Edit`
button (pencil icon) and suggest a correction.

If you would like to help us fix a bug or add a new feature, please check our
guidelines. Pull requests are welcome!