CLI
A text-only interface where a user runs a program by typing its name and arguments into a shell.
Definition
A command-line interface is a program that takes typed input and prints text output, in contrast to a graphical UI. Most developer tools ship a CLI first: git, docker, npm, claude, gh. CLIs are scriptable, easy to chain with pipes, and the only practical interface on remote servers reached over SSH.
When to use
See also
- SDK — A library plus tooling that wraps a service's API in a specific programming language.
- IDE — An editor bundled with project tooling — file tree, terminal, debugger, language server — for writing software.