WebDev-Friendly Approach to Bash scripting, with Sh:erpa

Sh:erpa brings Cargo, OhMy' and WebDev worflow to Bash scripting, using the Terminal as a browser! Because WebDevs should be able to do more than npm run dev in a terminal, and Bash lovers don't have to be reduced to automations writers, obviously because I like both sides. Docs: sherpa-cli.netlify.app - Discord: Community Discord Server JavaScript, PHP, Rust and other languages can indeed generate CLI tools with shell-like approaches, nevertheless Bash actually IS a shell, handling everything as expected. What the other languages often have is better tooling around, making for a nicer developer experience. Sh:erpa's goal is to be that tool, simplifying the creation of scripts & libraries and helping non-devs actually installing and using them. It's just a beginning, the imagination is the limit. Note: First time i'm talking about, so really need feedback

Feb 6, 2025 - 16:47

WebDev-Friendly Approach to Bash scripting, with Sh:erpa

Sh:erpa brings Cargo, OhMy' and WebDev worflow to Bash scripting, using the Terminal as a browser!

Because WebDevs should be able to do more than npm run dev in a terminal, and Bash lovers don't have to be reduced to automations writers, obviously because I like both sides.

Docs: sherpa-cli.netlify.app - Discord: Community Discord Server

JavaScript, PHP, Rust and other languages can indeed generate CLI tools with shell-like approaches, nevertheless Bash actually IS a shell, handling everything as expected. What the other languages often have is better tooling around, making for a nicer developer experience.

Sh:erpa's goal is to be that tool, simplifying the creation of scripts & libraries and helping non-devs actually installing and using them. It's just a beginning, the imagination is the limit.

Note: First time i'm talking about, so really need feedback <3

Quick install

Be sure to have Bash, curl, gawk instaled, then run the installer:

bash -c "$(curl -sLo- https://sherpa-cli.netlify.app/install.sh)"

It will do the following:

A. Install the CLI tools if not already installed.
B. Clone the Sh:erpa repo as ~/.sherpa
C. Add to the $PATH ~/.sherpa/bin
D. Initiate the SherpaCustomDir as ~/sherpa

Use a Linux Distribution, still a Linux Distro but from WSL2 or MacOS. For good measure once installed, you can run sherpa self-update to re-generate the executable.

See the docs for more details.

The BashBox (think Crate) Anatomy

When running: sherpa new myScript the following is generated:

# /home/user/sherpa/boxes/myScript
.
├── data
│   └── file.yaml
├── docs
│   └── myScript.md
├── README.md
├── Sherpa.yaml
├── src
│   ├── bin.sh
│   ├── _globals.sh
│   ├── _header.sh
│   ├── _lib.sh
│   ├── _options.sh
│   └── __paths.txt
├── target
│   └── local
│       └── myScript
└── tests
    └── example_test.sh

Looks familiar? A simple src/bin.sh file could look like that:

use "std/fmt"

main() {
  # Data
  dude="$(dataGet "hiker" "name")"

  # Template
  h1 "Greetings adventurer :)"
  hr "+" "-" # ------+------
  br
  p  "Welcome ${txtBlue} ${dude} ${x}!"
}

# Main Route. Script called with no arguments
[[ "$#" == 0 ]] && main; exit 0

Sh:erpa will merge the partials plus those sourced with use "dir/file", generate docs, remove comments and blanks, then build the script and make it available for direct invocations and eventually re-build on files save.

The tool can be picked-up by WebDevs discovering Bash or experienced shell scripters taking advantage of the build, watch and organisation or distribution, while writing things their own way.

The docs website will get soon a Ressources section, with cheat-sheets, examples and other helpful things to kick off projects.

Local Libraries

To create your own local library, use something as sherpa new bob lib. This would scafold a library version of a BashBox in /home/user/sherpa/lib with that structure:

# home/user/sherpa/lib/bob
.
├── data
│   └── example.yaml
├── lib.sh
├── README.md
├── Sherpa.yaml
└── tests
    └── example_test.sh

Any .sh file in bob/ can be imported in any BashBox with use "bob/fileName".

Install community-made packages

So far, we can install remote BashBoxes or Libs from Git repositories with:

BashBox: sherpa install -n "" -u ""
BashLib: sherpa install -n "" -u "" -t "lib"

More details in the Documentation, and some available repos to play with soon listed, so stay tuned or comme say hi.

Features

Check the Sh:erpa Website or come talk in the Discord, but some included features are:

Modular + build-step workflow
Pug-like semantic formating
Non verbose styling options
CRUD operations on .yaml files
Fetch API data and use JSON in Bash
CDN-like imports for remote Libs
Integrated UnitTests suite
Docs generation from comments
Install/Up/Remove remote BashBox or Lib
Source local libs with use "dir/file"
Helpers for env variables or package data
Helper for Are you sure? (y/n) confirm
...to name some of them.