Majordomo

Majordomo is a command line utility which provides a set of commands which help you to do common things in a comfortable way (user friendly prompts, one majorodomo command results in multiple other commands, ...). Just type majordomo <command>, maybe answer some questions, and see the result.

The power of Majordomo is in modules. You can specify what parts of command you want to use. For example if you are writing just npm package, you don't want to publish it to bower registry.

Work in progress

Majordomo is in early development now. It works somehow but it can behave unexpectly and API may change.

Installation

$ npm install -g majordomo

Usage

$ majordomo <command> [+moduleToUse...] [-moduleNotToUse...]

Example

.majorfile:

{
    "commands": {
        "foo": ["bar", "baz"]
    }
}

terminal:

$ majordomo foo +qux -baz

With these settings it will run foo command with modules bar and qux.

Majorfile

In .majorfile you configure the behaviour of Majordomo.

Properties

custom

If you have a custom command (it means not installed via npm), you have to specify path to it.

{
    "custom": {
        "foo": "path/to/my/commands/foo"
    }
}

It has to be a javascript file but you needn't to write the extension because the file is loaded via require().

modules

In this property you specify default modules to use. It can be overwritten either by commands property or majorodomo command line argument.

{
    "modules": ["foo", "bar"]
}

commands

Overwrites default modules for individual commands.

{
    "commands": {
        "foo": ["bar", "baz"]
    }
}

Commands

Writing a command

Always name your npm packages as major-<your-command>. Tell me if you have written a command and you want to add the command link here.

First, initiate command using majordomo function. You have to pass name of the command and configuration which is sent from majordomo command line utility.

var majordomo = require('majordomo');
 
module.exports = function (config) {
    majordomo('name', config);
}

Then use Command API for asking some questions.

majordomo('name', config).
ask('input', 'name', 'What is your name?').
ask('list', 'gender', 'What is your gender?', ['Male', 'Female']).
ask('confirm', 'confirmation', 'Can we use your personal data?');

You can branch questions out based on answers which were given before.

majordomo('name', config).
ask('input', 'name', 'What is your name?').
ask('list', 'gender', 'What is your gender?', ['Male', 'Female']).
branch('gender.Male', function () {
    this.ask('input', 'football', 'What is your favorite football team?');
}).
branch('gender.Female', function () {
    this.ask('input', 'shampoo', 'What is your favorite brand of shampoo?');
}).
ask('confirm', 'confirmation', 'Can we use your personal data?');

And at the end, just do what you want.

majordomo('name', connfig).
ask('input', 'name', 'What is your name?').
run(function () {
    console.log('Hi ' + this.get('name') + '!');
});

Command API

ask(type, id, question, choices|[default], [default])

• type - It specifies how user will be prompted. Value can be either input, list, checkbox, password or confirm.
• id - You access the answer by id.
• question - Message for user.
• choices - If type is either list or checkbox, the third parameter is array of choices.
• default - The third or fourth parameter is the default value. For input and password it is string. For list it is number (index in choices array). For checkbox it is array. And for `confirm it is boolean.

branch(condition, branch)

• condition - It can be either function or string. Function must return boolean value whether branch will be executed or not. Use this.get(property) and this.has(module) for your decisions. You can use majordomo shortcuts for condition by passing a string with a specified format.
  • 'property.value'/'!property.value' -> this.get(property) === value/this.get(property) !== value
  • 'property:value'/'!property:value' -> this.get(property).indexOf(value) !== -1/this.get(property).indexOf(value) === -1
  • 'property=value'/'property!=value' -> this.get(property) === value/this.get(property) !== value
  • 'property'/'!property' - checks if property is present
  • '%module'/'%!module' - checks whether user want to run commands related to specified module
• branch - Function which will be executed if condition is truthy. Command API is binded to this.

run(action)

• action - Function which will be called after all questions are answered. You can get answers using this.get(id) or check if module is present using this.has(module).

set(property, value)

• property - Property name which will be set.
• value - Value of manually set property.

get(property)

• property - Property name.

has(module)

• module - Module name.

Returns if specified module is wanted or not.

Majordomo API

Majordomo object provides you some useful functions which you can use in your commands.

exec(command, [cb])

It embraces Node child_process.exec but gives you possibility to execute commands in a pseudo-synchronous way. It means that majorodomo.exec doesn't execute command until previous is finished.

majorodomo.exec('git tag -a v1.0.0', function (error, output) {
    if (!error) console.log(output);
});
 
//this command isn't executed until previous has finished
majordomo.exec('npm publish ./');

template(template, data)

Renders a mustache template.

log(name, [message])

Logs a message in Majordomo look.

debug(name, [message])

Logs a message in Majorodmo "debug" look. If debug mode is disabled (default), it does nothing.

setDebugMode()

Enables debug mode.

src

Instance of FileSystem which root directory is where your command is located (your package).

dest

Instance of FileSystem which root directory is user's working directory.

FileSystem API

exists(path)

Returns if file/directory exists.

read(path)

Returns the content of file.

write(path, content)

Writes content to specified file.

remove(path)

Removes specified file.

mkdir(path)

Makes directory.

rmdir(path)

Removes directory.

list(path)

Returns array of files in specified directory.

chmod(path, mode)

Changes mode of specified file.

Todo

• Improve documentation
• Fix issues
• Come up with a solution how to test Majorodomo prompts
• Add more tests
• Add asynchronous operations support

Thank you to

• Inquirer.js for awesome CLI prompts which Majorodomo just embraces
• Lo-dash for useful utility belt
• Mustache.js for nice implementation of Mustache templates
• Mocha and expect.js because I really enjoy writing tests with them
• Coffeescript because writing JavaScript is fast and beautiful with it

License

Majordomo is MIT licensed. Feel free to use it, contribute or spread the word. Created with love by Petr Nevyhoštěný (Twitter).