The consistency rule I follow in any CLI tools I write: options are optional, required are commands or arguments.
Anything with `-` or `--` is an optional. Just like all the basic unix/linux tools. You don't have to `ls --thing` to list a folder, just `ls`. Or `cat --magic --args the_file` and so on.
If I require an 'option', it becomes a command or an argument for the command, i.e. `tool --list-files` becomes `tool ls`. Copy for example: `cp src dest` works, `cp` on its own, doesn't.
I even tend to write extensible CLI tools, `tool-ls` will drop into the same folder as `tool` and running `tool` will detect `tool-ls` and present it in the list of commands. Just like git.
Anything with `-` or `--` is an optional. Just like all the basic unix/linux tools. You don't have to `ls --thing` to list a folder, just `ls`. Or `cat --magic --args the_file` and so on.
If I require an 'option', it becomes a command or an argument for the command, i.e. `tool --list-files` becomes `tool ls`. Copy for example: `cp src dest` works, `cp` on its own, doesn't.
I even tend to write extensible CLI tools, `tool-ls` will drop into the same folder as `tool` and running `tool` will detect `tool-ls` and present it in the list of commands. Just like git.