Create a Golang CLI in Minutes with Cobra

wget -q -O - https://git.io/vQhTU | bash

```python

Obv is you aren’t comfortable with that, install from here: [https://golang.org/doc/install](https://golang.org/doc/install)

## 2. Install Cobra (CLI Tool)

Cobra is a module that helps you create Golang CLI apps: [https://cobra.dev/](https://cobra.dev/) & [https://github.com/spf13/cobra](https://github.com/spf13/cobra)

And it has a CLI Generator:
[https://github.com/spf13/cobra/blob/master/cobra/README.md](https://github.com/spf13/cobra/blob/master/cobra/README.md)

Here’s how to use it:

> Note: Replace `jongio` and `app` with your own names.

```bash

# Get the CLI Generator
go get github.com/spf13/cobra/cobra
# Create dir for your app
mkdir -p app && cd app
# Initialize the go module
go mod init github.com/jongio/app
# Initialize the CLI project with cobra
cobra init --pkg-name github.com/jongio/app
# Get the cobra/viper dependencies. This will add to your go.mod file
go get github.com/spf13/cobra
go get github.com/spf13/viper
# Build to make sure we are good.
go build

```markdown

- *Troubleshooting:**

If you get this error:

```text

jon@JONGWFH:~/app$ go run main.go
main.go:18:8: no required module provides package github.com/jongio/app/cmd: go.mod file not found in current directory or any parent directory; see 'go help modules'

```text

Then you need to run this in your project dir:

```bash

go mod init github.com/jongio/app

```markdown

## 3. Run It

Run this:

```bash

go run main.go

```text

And you’ll see this:

```bash

jon@JONGWFH:~/app$ go run main.go
A longer description that spans multiple lines and likely contains
examples and usage of using your application. 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.

```csharp

!["CLI default Output"](/images/golang-cli-cobra/105.png)

## 4. Add a Command

The cobra generate also has helpers to easily add new commands:

Add command:

```bash

cobra add login

```csharp

Run new command:

```bash

go run main.go login

```text

And you’ll see:

```bash

jon@JONGWFH:~/app$ go run main.go login
login called