rive-gen CLI

A Node.js CLI that generates Dart ViewModel wrapper code from Rive (.riv) files.

It uses @rive-app/canvas-advanced (the Rive JS/WASM runtime) to introspect .riv files and produces the same Dart output as the web app.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm 9+

Install

From npm (recommended)

npm install -g @rive-viewmodel/cli

Then use it from anywhere:

rive-gen --input path/to/MyAnimation.riv

Update to the latest published version:

npm install -g @rive-viewmodel/cli@latest

Usage

From the repo root (development)

Build the CLI first:

cd packages/rive-viewmodel-cli
npm install
npm run build

Then run it:

node packages/rive-viewmodel-cli/dist/bin/rive-gen.js --input path/to/file.riv

Install globally via npm link

cd packages/rive-viewmodel-cli
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Then use it from anywhere:

rive-gen --input path/to/MyAnimation.riv

Options

| Flag | Short | Description | Default | |------|-------|-------------|---------| | --input <file> | -i | Path to the .riv file | required | | --output <dir> | -o | Output directory | Same as input file | | --name <name> | -n | Output file base name (no extension) | Input file name | | --modern | | Use package:rive/rive.dart import | package:rive_native/rive_native.dart | | --interface | | Implement RiveViewModel interface | false | | --templates <dir> | | Custom Mustache templates directory | assets/templates/dart/ | | --help | -h | Display help | | | --version | -V | Display version | |

Examples

Generate with the legacy Rive import (default):

rive-gen -i assets/hero.riv -o lib/generated

Generate using the modern package:rive import:

rive-gen -i assets/hero.riv -o lib/generated --modern

Generate with the RiveViewModel interface implemented:

rive-gen -i assets/hero.riv -o lib/generated --modern --interface

Custom output file name:

rive-gen -i assets/hero_animation.riv -o lib/generated -n hero_view_model

Implementation notes

The WASM runtime is browser-first. For Node.js introspection (no rendering needed), minimal DOM stubs (document, navigator, window) are installed before loading the WASM. The Canvas/WebGL renderer is not used — only the File / ViewModel / DataEnum APIs are called to read the .riv file structure.

Shared templates

The Mustache templates in assets/templates/dart/ are shared between this CLI and the Flutter web app. Pass --templates to use a custom template directory.

At build time (npm run build) these templates are copied into the package (templates/dart/, gitignored) so the published npm tarball is self-contained and works when installed globally.

Publishing (maintainers)

The package is published to npm under the public @rive-viewmodel scope.

cd packages/rive-viewmodel-cli
npm login                 # one-time, needs access to the @rive-viewmodel org
npm version patch         # or minor / major — bumps version + git tag
npm publish               # runs prepublishOnly (build) automatically

prepublishOnly rebuilds dist/ and re-bundles templates/ before every publish, and publishConfig.access = public makes the scoped package public.