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Go (golang) package with 90 configurable terminal spinner/progress indicators.
Quick Overview
Ora is an elegant terminal spinner library for Node.js. It provides a simple way to show loading indicators and progress in command-line interfaces, enhancing the user experience of CLI applications.
Pros
- Easy to use with a clean and intuitive API
- Highly customizable with various spinner styles and colors
- Supports promise-based operations
- Lightweight with minimal dependencies
Cons
- Limited to terminal environments
- May not be suitable for complex progress reporting scenarios
- Potential performance impact in high-frequency update situations
- Requires Node.js, not usable in browser environments
Code Examples
Basic usage:
import ora from 'ora';
const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.color = 'yellow';
spinner.text = 'Loading rainbows';
}, 1000);
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.succeed('Unicorns and rainbows loaded');
}, 2000);
Promise-based usage:
import ora from 'ora';
const fetchData = () => new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 2000));
const spinner = ora('Fetching data...').start();
try {
await fetchData();
spinner.succeed('Data loaded');
} catch (error) {
spinner.fail('Error loading data');
}
Custom spinner:
import ora from 'ora';
const spinner = ora({
text: 'Processing',
spinner: {
frames: ['⠋', '⠙', '⠹', '⠸', '⠼', '⠴', '⠦', '⠧', '⠇', '⠏'],
interval: 80
}
}).start();
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.succeed('Done');
}, 2000);
Getting Started
To use Ora in your project, first install it:
npm install ora
Then, import and use it in your JavaScript file:
import ora from 'ora';
const spinner = ora('Loading...').start();
// Perform some async operation
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.succeed('Operation completed');
}, 2000);
This creates a simple spinner that starts immediately, shows "Loading..." for 2 seconds, and then displays a success message.
Competitor Comparisons
Go (golang) package with 90 configurable terminal spinner/progress indicators.
Pros of spinner
- Written in Go, offering better performance and concurrency support
- Provides a wider variety of spinner styles out of the box
- Supports custom spinner characters and animations
Cons of spinner
- Less actively maintained compared to ora
- Limited color customization options
- Fewer advanced features like promise support or nested spinners
Code Comparison
ora:
const ora = require('ora');
const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.color = 'yellow';
spinner.text = 'Loading rainbows';
}, 1000);
spinner:
s := spinner.New(spinner.CharSets[9], 100*time.Millisecond)
s.Color("red")
s.Start()
time.Sleep(4 * time.Second)
s.Stop()
Both libraries provide simple APIs for creating and controlling spinners in terminal applications. ora offers a more JavaScript-friendly approach with promise support and chaining, while spinner provides a straightforward Go implementation with a focus on performance and variety of spinner styles.
ora is generally more feature-rich and actively maintained, making it a better choice for complex Node.js projects. spinner, on the other hand, is ideal for Go developers looking for a lightweight and efficient spinner implementation with a good selection of built-in styles.
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ora
Elegant terminal spinner
Install
npm install ora
Check out yocto-spinner for a smaller alternative.
Usage
import ora from 'ora';
const spinner = ora('Loading unicorns').start();
setTimeout(() => {
spinner.color = 'yellow';
spinner.text = 'Loading rainbows';
}, 1000);
API
ora(text)
ora(options)
If a string is provided, it is treated as a shortcut for options.text.
options
Type: object
text
Type: string
The text to display next to the spinner.
prefixText
Type: string | () => string
Text or a function that returns text to display before the spinner. No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
suffixText
Type: string | () => string
Text or a function that returns text to display after the spinner text. No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
spinner
Type: string | object
Default: 'dots' 
The name of one of the provided spinners. See example.js in this repo if you want to test out different spinners. On Windows (except for Windows Terminal), it will always use the line spinner as the Windows command-line doesn't have proper Unicode support.
Or an object like:
{
frames: ['-', '+', '-'],
interval: 80 // Optional
}
color
Type: string
Default: 'cyan'
Values: 'black' | 'red' | 'green' | 'yellow' | 'blue' | 'magenta' | 'cyan' | 'white' | 'gray'
The color of the spinner.
hideCursor
Type: boolean
Default: true
Set to false to stop Ora from hiding the cursor.
indent
Type: number
Default: 0
Indent the spinner with the given number of spaces.
interval
Type: number
Default: Provided by the spinner or 100
Interval between each frame.
Spinners provide their own recommended interval, so you don't really need to specify this.
stream
Type: stream.Writable
Default: process.stderr
Stream to write the output.
You could for example set this to process.stdout instead.
isEnabled
Type: boolean
Force enable/disable the spinner. If not specified, the spinner will be enabled if the stream is being run inside a TTY context (not spawned or piped) and/or not in a CI environment.
Note that {isEnabled: false} doesn't mean it won't output anything. It just means it won't output the spinner, colors, and other ansi escape codes. It will still log text.
isSilent
Type: boolean
Default: false
Disable the spinner and all log text. All output is suppressed and isEnabled will be considered false.
discardStdin
Type: boolean
Default: true
Discard stdin input (except Ctrl+C) while running if it's TTY. This prevents the spinner from twitching on input, outputting broken lines on Enter key presses, and prevents buffering of input while the spinner is running.
This has no effect on Windows as there is no good way to implement discarding stdin properly there.
Instance
.text get/set
Change the text displayed after the spinner.
.prefixText get/set
Change the text before the spinner.
No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
.suffixText get/set
Change the text after the spinner text.
No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
.color get/set
Change the spinner color.
.spinner get/set
Change the spinner.
.indent get/set
Change the spinner indent.
.isSpinning get
A boolean indicating whether the instance is currently spinning.
.interval get
The interval between each frame.
The interval is decided by the chosen spinner.
.start(text?)
Start the spinner. Returns the instance. Set the current text if text is provided.
.stop()
Stop and clear the spinner. Returns the instance.
.succeed(text?)
Stop the spinner, change it to a green â and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.
.fail(text?)
Stop the spinner, change it to a red â and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.
.warn(text?)
Stop the spinner, change it to a yellow â and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance.
.info(text?)
Stop the spinner, change it to a blue â¹ and persist the current text, or text if provided. Returns the instance.
.stopAndPersist(options?)
Stop the spinner and change the symbol or text. Returns the instance. See the GIF below.
options
Type: object
symbol
Type: string
Default: ' '
Symbol to replace the spinner with.
text
Type: string
Default: Current 'text'
Text to be persisted after the symbol.
prefixText
Type: string | () => string
Default: Current prefixText
Text or a function that returns text to be persisted before the symbol. No prefix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
suffixText
Type: string | () => string
Default: Current suffixText
Text or a function that returns text to be persisted after the text after the symbol. No suffix text will be displayed if set to an empty string.
.clear()
Clear the spinner. Returns the instance.
.render()
Manually render a new frame. Returns the instance.
.frame()
Get a new frame.
oraPromise(action, text)
oraPromise(action, options)
Starts a spinner for a promise or promise-returning function. The spinner is stopped with .succeed() if the promise fulfills or with .fail() if it rejects. Returns the promise.
import {oraPromise} from 'ora';
await oraPromise(somePromise);
action
Type: Promise | ((spinner: ora.Ora) => Promise)
options
Type: object
All of the options plus the following:
successText
Type: string | ((result: T) => string) | undefined
The new text of the spinner when the promise is resolved.
Keeps the existing text if undefined.
failText
Type: string | ((error: Error) => string) | undefined
The new text of the spinner when the promise is rejected.
Keeps the existing text if undefined.
spinners
Type: Record<string, Spinner>
All provided spinners.
FAQ
How do I change the color of the text?
Use chalk or yoctocolors:
import ora from 'ora';
import chalk from 'chalk';
const spinner = ora(`Loading ${chalk.red('unicorns')}`).start();
Why does the spinner freeze?
JavaScript is single-threaded, so any synchronous operations will block the spinner's animation. To avoid this, prefer using asynchronous operations.
Related
- yocto-spinner - Tiny terminal spinner
- cli-spinners - Spinners for use in the terminal
Ports
- CLISpinner - Terminal spinner library for Swift
- halo - Python port
- spinners - Terminal spinners for Rust
- marquee-ora - Scrolling marquee spinner for Ora
- briandowns/spinner - Terminal spinner/progress indicator for Go
- tj/go-spin - Terminal spinner package for Go
- observablehq.com/@victordidenko/ora - Ora port to Observable notebooks
- kia - Simple terminal spinners for Deno ð¦
Top Related Projects
Go (golang) package with 90 configurable terminal spinner/progress indicators.
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