Building and Distributing CLI Applications with Picocli and jDeploy

npm install -g your-cli
your-cli --help

npx your-cli --help

jdeploy generate -t picocli

$ jdeploy generate -t picocli
Project generated at: ./my-app

my-app/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── jdeploy.yml        # GitHub Actions workflow
├── .mvn/
│   └── wrapper/               # Maven wrapper files
├── src/
│   └── main/
│       └── java/
│           └── com/example/myapp/
│               └── Main.java  # Your CLI application
├── icon.png                   # Application icon
├── tile.png                   # Tile image for jDeploy
├── mvnw                       # Maven wrapper (Unix)
├── mvnw.cmd                   # Maven wrapper (Windows)
├── package.json               # jDeploy configuration
├── pom.xml                    # Maven build configuration
└── README.md

package com.example.myapp;

import picocli.CommandLine;
import picocli.CommandLine.Command;
import picocli.CommandLine.Option;
import picocli.CommandLine.Parameters;

import java.util.concurrent.Callable;

@Command(name = "my-app",
        mixinStandardHelpOptions = true,
        version = "1.0",
        description = "My App - a picocli CLI application.")
public class Main implements Callable<Integer> {

    @Parameters(index = "0", defaultValue = "World",
            description = "The name to greet (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE}).")
    private String name;

    @Option(names = {"-c", "--count"}, defaultValue = "1",
            description = "Number of times to print the greeting (default: ${DEFAULT-VALUE}).")
    private int count;

    @Override
    public Integer call() {
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
            System.out.println("Hello, " + name + "!");
        }
        return 0;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String mode = System.getProperty("jdeploy.mode", "command");

        if ("gui".equals(mode)) {
            // GUI mode: show an about dialog
            javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> {
                javax.swing.JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
                    null,
                    "My App v1.0\n\nThis is a command-line tool.\n"
                        + "Run 'my-app --help' in a terminal for usage.",
                    "About My App",
                    javax.swing.JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE
                );
                System.exit(0);
            });
            return;
        }

        // CLI mode: run the command
        int exitCode = new CommandLine(new Main()).execute(args);
        System.exit(exitCode);
    }
}

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "version": "1.0-SNAPSHOT",
  "description": "jDeploy Picocli CLI Starter Project",
  "bin": {
    "my-app": "jdeploy-bundle/jdeploy.js"
  },
  "jdeploy": {
    "jdk": false,
    "javaVersion": "21",
    "jar": "target/my-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar",
    "javafx": false,
    "title": "My App",
    "buildCommand": [
      "./mvnw",
      "package"
    ],
    "commands": {
      "my-app": {
        "description": "My App CLI"
      }
    }
  },
  "dependencies": { ... },
  "files": ["jdeploy-bundle"]
}

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>info.picocli</groupId>
        <artifactId>picocli</artifactId>
        <version>4.7.6</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

chmod +x mvnw

./mvnw package

$ java -jar target/my-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar
Hello, World!

$ java -jar target/my-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar Alice
Hello, Alice!

$ java -jar target/my-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar Alice -c 3
Hello, Alice!
Hello, Alice!
Hello, Alice!

$ java -jar target/my-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar --help
Usage: my-app [-hV] [-c=<count>] [<name>]
My App - a picocli CLI application.
      [<name>]      The name to greet (default: World).
  -c, --count=<count>
                    Number of times to print the greeting (default: 1).
  -h, --help        Show this help message and exit.
  -V, --version     Print version information and exit.

{
  "bin": {
    "my-app": "jdeploy-bundle/jdeploy.js"    (1)
  },
  "jdeploy": {
    "commands": {
      "my-app": {                              (2)
        "description": "My App CLI"
      }
    }
  }
}

# Build and publish
jdeploy publish

npm login
jdeploy publish

# Create and push a version tag
git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

@Command(name = "my-app",
        subcommands = {
            InitCommand.class,
            BuildCommand.class,
            DeployCommand.class
        })
public class Main implements Callable<Integer> {
    // ...
}

@Command(name = "init", description = "Initialize a new project")
class InitCommand implements Callable<Integer> {
    @Override
    public Integer call() {
        System.out.println("Initializing...");
        return 0;
    }
}

{
  "jdeploy": {
    "commands": {
      "my-app": {
        "description": "Main CLI interface"
      },
      "my-app-server": {
        "description": "Start the server",
        "args": ["--server-mode"]
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "jdeploy": {
    "commands": {
      "my-app-server": {
        "description": "My App Server",
        "implements": ["service_controller", "updater"]
      }
    }
  }
}

my-app-server service install
my-app-server service start
my-app-server service status
my-app-server service stop
my-app-server service uninstall