`@inquirer/checkbox`

Simple interactive command line prompt to display a list of checkboxes (multi select).

Special Thanks

Graphite is the AI developer productivity platform helping teams on GitHub ship higher quality software, faster

Installation

npm	yarn
npm install @inquirer/prompts	yarn add @inquirer/prompts
Or
npm install @inquirer/checkbox	yarn add @inquirer/checkbox

Usage

import { checkbox, Separator } from '@inquirer/prompts';
// Or
// import checkbox, { Separator } from '@inquirer/checkbox';

const answer = await checkbox({
  message: 'Select a package manager',
  choices: [
    { name: 'npm', value: 'npm' },
    { name: 'yarn', value: 'yarn' },
    new Separator(),
    { name: 'pnpm', value: 'pnpm', disabled: true },
    {
      name: 'pnpm',
      value: 'pnpm',
      disabled: '(pnpm is not available)',
    },
  ],
});

Options

Property	Type	Required	Description
message	`string`	yes	The question to ask
choices	`Choice[]`	yes	List of the available choices.
pageSize	`number`	no	By default, lists of choice longer than 7 will be paginated. Use this option to control how many choices will appear on the screen at once.
loop	`boolean`	no	Defaults to `true`. When set to `false`, the cursor will be constrained to the top and bottom of the choice list without looping.
required	`boolean`	no	When set to `true`, ensures at least one choice must be selected.
validate	`async (Choice[]) => boolean \| string`	no	On submit, validate the choices. When returning a string, it'll be used as the error message displayed to the user. Note: returning a rejected promise, we'll assume a code error happened and crash.
shortcuts	See Shortcuts	no	Customize shortcut keys for `all` and `invert`.
theme	See Theming	no	Customize look of the prompt.

Separator objects can be used in the choices array to render non-selectable lines in the choice list. By default it'll render a line, but you can provide the text as argument (new Separator('-- Dependencies --')). This option is often used to add labels to groups within long list of options.

`Choice` object

The Choice object is typed as

type Choice<Value> = {
  value: Value;
  name?: string;
  description?: string;
  short?: string;
  checked?: boolean;
  disabled?: boolean | string;
};

Here's each property:

value: The value is what will be returned by await checkbox().
name: This is the string displayed in the choice list.
description: Option for a longer description string that'll appear under the list when the cursor highlight a given choice.
short: Once the prompt is done (press enter), we'll use short if defined to render next to the question. By default we'll use name.
checked: If true, the option will be checked by default.
disabled: Disallow the option from being selected. If disabled is a string, it'll be used as a help tip explaining why the choice isn't available.

Also note the choices array can contain Separators to help organize long lists.

choices can also be an array of string, in which case the string will be used both as the value and the name.

Shortcuts

You can customize the shortcut keys for all and invert or disable them by setting them to null.

type Shortcuts = {
  all?: string | null; // default: 'a'
  invert?: string | null; // default: 'i'
};

Theming

You can theme a prompt by passing a theme object option. The theme object only need to includes the keys you wish to modify, we'll fallback on the defaults for the rest.

type Theme = {
  prefix: string | { idle: string; done: string };
  spinner: {
    interval: number;
    frames: string[];
  };
  style: {
    answer: (text: string) => string;
    message: (text: string, status: 'idle' | 'done' | 'loading') => string;
    error: (text: string) => string;
    defaultAnswer: (text: string) => string;
    help: (text: string) => string;
    highlight: (text: string) => string;
    key: (text: string) => string;
    disabledChoice: (text: string) => string;
    description: (text: string) => string;
    renderSelectedChoices: <T>(
      selectedChoices: ReadonlyArray<Choice<T>>,
      allChoices: ReadonlyArray<Choice<T> | Separator>,
    ) => string;
  };
  icon: {
    checked: string;
    unchecked: string;
    cursor: string;
  };
  helpMode: 'always' | 'never' | 'auto';
};

`theme.helpMode`

auto (default): Hide the help tips after an interaction occurs. The scroll tip will hide after any interactions, the selection tip will hide as soon as a first selection is done.
always: The help tips will always show and never hide.
never: The help tips will never show.