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Using Cobra and Go to Create Command Line Utilities

Published by Mihalis Tsoukalos
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Before You Begin

You will need to install a recent version of Go on your computer in order to follow the presented commands. Any Go version newer than 1.7 will do but it is considered a good practice to have the latest version of Go installed. You can check your Go version by executing go version.

If you still need to install Go, you can follow our guide for Ubuntu installation here.

Note
This guide is written for a non-root user. Depending on your installation, some commands might require the help of sudo in order to get property executed. If you are not familiar with the sudo command, see the Users and Groups guide.

Using the Cobra Go Package

Cobra is a very handy and popular Go package that allows you to develop command line utilities with commands, subcommands, aliases, configuration files, etc. If you have ever used hugo, docker or kubectl you will have some idea of what Cobra does as all of these tools were developed using Cobra as a part of their foundation.

This guide is going to implement four scenarios:

  • A command line utility with first level commands only
  • A command line utility with first and second level commands
  • A command line utility with support for command line flags
  • A command line utility with command aliases

Installing Cobra

You must install Cobra before beginning – you can install it by executing the following command:

go get github.com/spf13/cobra/cobra

Cobra comes with its own command line utility named cobra, which is usually installed in ~/go/bin/cobra. Although it is possible to create command line utilities without using the cobra utility, cobra helps to save time by reducing the overhead and complexity often required to execute these tasks.

If you wish to learn more about the commands supported by cobra, you should execute ~/go/bin/cobra without any command line parameters:

~/go/bin/cobra

Cobra is a CLI library for Go that empowers applications.
This application is a tool to generate the needed files
to quickly create a Cobra application.

Usage:
cobra [command]

Available Commands:
add         Add a command to a Cobra Application
help        Help about any command
init        Initialize a Cobra Application

Flags:
-a, --author string    author name for copyright attribution (default "YOUR NAME")
--config string    config file (default is $HOME/.cobra.yaml)
-h, --help             help for cobra
-l, --license string   name of license for the project
--viper            use Viper for configuration (default true)

Use "cobra [command] --help" for more information about a command.

All Cobra projects follow the same development cycle. You first use the cobra tool to initialize a project, then you create commands and subcommands, and finally you make the desired changes to the generated Go source files in order to support the desired functionality.

Note
The cobra init command stores Cobra projects inside ~/go/src, which means that after executing cobra init <project_name> to create a new Cobra project, you will need to change to the new directory.

A Utility With First Level Commands

In this section you will learn how to develop the skeleton of a simple command line utility with three commands named insert, delete, and list.

The Initial Structure

In order to create our first command line utility, which is going to be called three, we will need to execute the following commands:

~/go/bin/cobra init three
cd ~/go/src/three
~/go/bin/cobra add insert
~/go/bin/cobra add delete
~/go/bin/cobra add list

The cobra add command creates new commands along with the required files.

The directory structure and the files in the three directory can be seen from the output of the tree(1) command:

tree


.
├── LICENSE
├── cmd
│   ├── delete.go
│   ├── insert.go
│   ├── list.go
│   └── root.go
└── main.go

1 directory, 6 files
Note

Tree is not installed by default on many distributions. You can install it manually using your package manager, or skip the steps that use it if you feel comfortable with your understanding of your directory structure. If you’re using the apt package manager, tree can be installed with the following command:

sudo apt install tree

If you try to interact with three at this point, you will get the following kind of output:

go run main.go insert

insert called
go run main.go delete

    delete called
go run main.go list

    list called
go run main.go doesNotExist

    Error: unknown command "doesNotExist" for "three"
    Run 'three --help' for usage.
    unknown command "doesNotExist" for "three"
    exit status 1

Therefore, currently all desired commands are supported but have no functionality because their implementation is minimal.

Looking at the Go Code

The automatically generated implementation of the delete command can be found at ./cmd/delete.go and is currently as follows:

File: ./cmd/delete.go
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// Copyright © 2019 NAME HERE <EMAIL ADDRESS>
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

package cmd

import (
        "fmt"

        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

// deleteCmd represents the delete command
var deleteCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "delete",
        Short: "A brief description of your command",
        Long: `A longer description that spans multiple lines and likely contains examples
and usage of using your command. For example:

Cobra is a CLI library for Go that empowers applications.
This application is a tool to generate the needed files
to quickly create a Cobra application.`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
                fmt.Println("delete called")
        },
}

func init() {
        rootCmd.AddCommand(deleteCmd)

        // Here you will define your flags and configuration settings.

        // Cobra supports Persistent Flags which will work for this command
        // and all subcommands, e.g.:
        // deleteCmd.PersistentFlags().String("foo", "", "A help for foo")

        // Cobra supports local flags which will only run when this command
        // is called directly, e.g.:
        // deleteCmd.Flags().BoolP("toggle", "t", false, "Help message for toggle")
}

The actual implementation of the delete command is in the function defined in the Run field of the deleteCmd structure variable.

The other two commands have similar implementations.

Changing the Implementation of a Command

After making the desired changes and removing the code comments, the implementation of the delete command will be as follows:

File: ./cmd/delete.go
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package cmd

import (
        "fmt"
        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var deleteCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "delete",
        Short: "A brief description of your command",
        Long:  `A longer description for the delete command.`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
                fmt.Println("This is the delete command!")
        },
}

func init() {
        rootCmd.AddCommand(deleteCmd)
}

As the point of this guide is not to implement the commands but to illustrate the use of Cobra, the implementation of the delete command will stop here.

You can experiment on your own by trying to change the default implementation of the insert and list commands.

A Utility With First and Second Level Commands

In this section you will learn how to add subcommands to existing commands – subcommands are commands that are associated with specific commands only. In this case we are going to implement the all subcommand for the delete and list commands of the utility that we created in the previous section. The insert command does not need such a functionality.

The Initial Structure

Once again, our own utility will begin by using the cobra utility and executing the following commands:

~/go/bin/cobra init three_all
cd ~/go/src/three_all
~/go/bin/cobra add insert
~/go/bin/cobra add delete
~/go/bin/cobra add list

Implementing a Subcommand

In this section we are going to add the all subcommand. In order to create the all subcommand to the delete command you will need to execute the following:

~/go/bin/cobra add all -p 'deleteCmd'

In this case, you should use the internal representation of the delete command, which is deleteCmd. The fact that all is a subcommand of delete is defined inside the init() function of ./cmd/all.go as follows:

File: ./cmd/all.go
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func init() {
        deleteCmd.AddCommand(allCmd)
}

However, if you try to create the all subcommand for list you will get the following error message:

~/go/bin/cobra add all -p 'listCmd'

        Error: /Users/mtsouk/go/src/three_all/cmd/all.go already exists

There is a trick that can help you bypass that. You can rename the existing ./cmd/add.go file to whatever you want as long as it is unique. However, a rational filename would be ./cmd/delete_all.go:

mv cmd/all.go cmd/delete_all.go

Now you can execute the following command without getting any error messages:

~/go/bin/cobra add all -p 'listCmd'

For everything to function correctly and to avoid conflicts in command names, you will need to either change the name of the all subcommand in ./cmd/all.go or in ./cmd/delete_all.go. In this case, the change will happen in ./cmd/delete_all.go:

File: ./cmd/delete_all.go
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package cmd

import (
        "fmt"
        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var delete_allCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "all",
        Short: "A brief description of your command",
        Long:  `The all subcommand of the delete command.`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
                fmt.Println("all in delete was called!")
        },
}

func init() {
        deleteCmd.AddCommand(delete_allCmd)
}

So the internal name of the all subcommand for delete is now delete_allCmd.

Using Subcommands

In this subsection we are going to test the commands and subcommands that we have created previously:

go run main.go delete

delete called
go run main.go delete all

all in delete was called!
go run main.go list

list called
go run main.go list all

all called
go run main.go insert all

insert called
go run main.go insert

insert called

The all subcommand is considered a command line argument to the insert command, which is the reason that you get that output from go run main.go insert all.

The Directory Structure of the Source Code

The tree(1) utility will reveal the directory structure of the final version of the utility:

tree

    .
    ├── LICENSE
    ├── cmd
    │   ├── all.go
    │   ├── delete.go
    │   ├── delete_all.go
    │   ├── insert.go
    │   ├── list.go
    │   └── root.go
    └── main.go

    1 directory, 8 files

A Utility With Command Line Flags

This time we are going to create a command line utility with a global flag and a flag that is connected to a specific command only.

The Initial Structure

We are going to create the initial version of the utility, which is called my_flags, as follows:

~/go/bin/cobra init my_flags
cd ~/go/src/my_flags
~/go/bin/cobra add count
~/go/bin/cobra add version

Implementing Flags

The general idea here is that global flags are defined in ./cmd/root.go whereas flags associated with specific commands are defined and handled inside the implementation files of these commands.

In order to create a new global flag that accepts an integer parameter, we are going to make changes to ./cmd/root.go. The final version of ./cmd/root.go will be the following:

File: ./cmd/root.go
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package cmd

import (
        "fmt"
        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
        "os"
)

var developer string

var rootCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "my_flags",
        Short: "A brief description of your application",
        Long:  `A longer description.`,
}

func Execute() {
        if err := rootCmd.Execute(); err != nil {
                fmt.Println(err)
                os.Exit(1)
        }
}

func init() {
        cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
        rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&developer, "developer", "Unknown Developer!", "Developer name.")
}

func initConfig() {
        developer, _ := rootCmd.Flags().GetString("developer")
        if developer != "" {
                fmt.Println("Developer:", developer)
        }
}

The name of the global command line flag is developer, created in the init() function and accessed in the initConfig() function. However, developer can also be accessed from the other Go source files of the utility. The default value of developer is Unknown Developer!.

In order to add a flag to the count command we will need to change the ./cmd/count.go file – its final version will be as follows:

File: ./cmd/count.go
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package cmd

import (
        "fmt"

        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var countCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:   "count",
        Short: "A brief description of your command",
        Long:  `A longer description of count command.`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
                fmt.Println("count called")
                number, _ := cmd.Flags().GetInt("number")
                for i := 0; i < number; i++ {
                        fmt.Print(i, " ")
                }
                fmt.Println()

                developer, _ := rootCmd.Flags().GetString("developer")
                if developer != "" {
                        fmt.Println("From count command - Developer:", developer)
                }
        },
}

func init() {
        rootCmd.AddCommand(countCmd)
        countCmd.Flags().Int("number", 10, "A help for number")
}

The name of the local command line flag that is associated with the count command is number. It is created in the init() function and is accessed in the implementation of the count command. The count flag has a default value of 10.

In the previous code you can also see how to access the developer flag that was defined in ./cmd/root.go.

Testing the Utility

In this subsection we are going to test the implementation of flags in the my_flags utility:

go run main.go

        A longer description.

        Usage:
          my_flags [command]

        Available Commands:
          count       A brief description of your command
          help        Help about any command
          version     A brief description of your command

        Flags:
              --developer string   Developer name. (default "Unknown Developer!")
          -h, --help               help for my_flags

        Use "my_flags [command] --help" for more information about a command.
go run main.go count

        Developer: Unknown Developer!
        count called
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
        From count command - Developer: Unknown Developer!
go run main.go count --number 15

        Developer: Unknown Developer!
        count called

        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
        From count command - Developer: Unknown Developer!
go run main.go count --number 15 --developer "Mihalis Tsoukalos"

        Developer: Mihalis Tsoukalos
        count called
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
        From count command - Developer: Mihalis Tsoukalos
go run main.go version

        Developer: Unknown Developer!
        version called
go run main.go version --developer "Mihalis Tsoukalos"

        Developer: Mihalis Tsoukalos
        version called
go run main.go version --count 20

        Error: unknown flag: --count
        Usage:
          my_flags version [flags]

        Flags:
          -h, --help   help for version

        Global Flags:
              --developer string   Developer name. (default "Unknown Developer!")

        unknown flag: --count
        exit status 1

The Directory Structure of the Source Code

The tree(1) utility will reveal the directory structure of the final version of the utility:

tree

        .
        ├── LICENSE
        ├── cmd
        │   ├── count.go
        │   ├── root.go
        │   └── version.go
        └── main.go

        1 directory, 5 files

Creating Command Aliases

In this last section of this guide we are going to create a utility where some of its commands have aliases. This is extremely handy when you want to call long commands using shorter names.

The Initial Structure

As expected, the initial version of the utility, which is going to be called my_aliases, will be created using the cobra utility:

~/go/bin/cobra init my_aliases
cd ~/go/src/my_aliases
~/go/bin/cobra add delete
~/go/bin/cobra add version

Implementing the Aliases of a Command

We are going to implement aliases for the delete command only. The final implementation of the delete command, as found in ./cmd/delete.go, will be as follows:

File: ./cmd/delete.go
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package cmd

import (
        "fmt"

        "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var deleteCmd = &cobra.Command{
        Use:     "delete",
        Aliases: []string{"del", "dlt"},
        Short:   "A brief description of your command",
        Long:    `A longer description of the delete command.`,
        Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
                fmt.Println("delete called")
        },
}

func init() {
        rootCmd.AddCommand(deleteCmd)
}

A single Go statement is needed for defining the two aliases of the delete command – this is the line that begins with Aliases, which is a String slice. You can add as many values as you wish to that String slice.

Testing Command Aliases

If everything is correct, the following three commands will be equivalent and generate the same output:

go run main.go delete

    delete called
go run main.go dlt

    delete called
go run main.go del


    delete called
Note
Although all three aliases are equivalent and execute the same code, the internal representation of the delete command is only defined by deleteCmd.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

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