cmd-table

The modern CLI table library for Node.js — interactive TUI, sparklines, SQLite browsing, pivot tables, CSV/HTML parsing, and 7+ themes. Standalone, lightweight, TypeScript-first.

A drop-in upgrade from cli-table3 and table, actively maintained in 2026.

npm install cmd-table

30-Second Quick Start

import { Table } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table();
table.addColumn('Name');
table.addColumn('Role');
table.addColumn('Status');

table.addRow({ Name: 'Alice', Role: 'Dev', Status: 'Active' });
table.addRow({ Name: 'Bob', Role: 'PM', Status: 'Offline' });

console.log(table.render());

╭────────┬──────┬─────────╮
│ Name   │ Role │ Status  │
├────────┼──────┼─────────┤
│ Alice  │ Dev  │ Active  │
│ Bob    │ PM   │ Offline │
╰────────┴──────┴─────────╯

Try More in 30 Seconds

# Pipe JSON into a beautiful table
echo '[{"name":"Alice","age":30},{"name":"Bob","age":25}]' | npx cmd-table

# Pipe CSV
echo 'name,age\nAlice,30\nBob,25' | npx cmd-table

# Interactive explorer for large datasets
cat data.csv | npx cmd-table --interactive

Why cmd-table?

The top CLI table libraries for Node.js haven't been updated in years. cmd-table is a modern, actively maintained alternative with no production dependencies and 10x more features.

| Feature | cmd-table | cli-table3 | table | tty-table | | :--- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | | Standalone & lightweight | Yes | No | No | No | | Interactive TUI (search, filter, select) | Yes | No | No | No | | Async pagination (databases, APIs) | Yes | No | No | No | | SQL / SQLite integration | Yes | No | No | No | | Sparklines, Heatmaps & Progress bars | Yes | No | No | No | | Tree view | Yes | No | No | No | | Pivot tables & CrossTabs | Yes | No | No | No | | Diff tables (compare datasets) | Yes | No | No | No | | CSV / HTML parser (built-in) | Yes | No | No | No | | JSX / React syntax | Yes | No | No | No | | Header groups & footers | Yes | No | No | No | | Streaming renderer | Yes | No | Yes | No | | Multiple export formats | Yes | No | No | No | | Auto-merge cells | Yes | No | No | No | | Responsive layouts | Yes | No | No | Yes | | Per-column formatters | Yes | No | No | Yes | | TypeScript-first | Yes | Partial | Yes | No | | Actively maintained (2026) | Yes | No | No | Yes |

Features

• Standalone & Lightweight: Nothing extra to install.
• Modern Theming: "Rounded" theme by default, plus honeywell, void, double, dots, and more.
• Rich Styling: ANSI color support for headers and columns (defaults to Magenta headers and Cyan keys).
• Advanced Layouts: colSpan, rowSpan, auto-sizing, word-wrap, and specific column widths.
• Responsive: Hide or stack columns on smaller screens based on priority.
• Interactive TUI: Built-in interactive mode for exploring large datasets with search, filtering, and row selection.
• Data Visualization:
  • Sparklines & Heatmaps: Visualize trends and data density directly in cells.
  • Progress Bars: Render inline ████░░░░ 65% progress indicators in any cell.
  • Tree View: Visualize hierarchical data with automatic indentation.
  • Auto-Merge: Automatically vertically merge identical adjacent cells.
  • Header Groups: Spans multiple columns under a super-header.
  • Footers & Summaries: Automatic sum/avg/count or custom footers.
• Data Operations: Built-in column sorting (asc/desc), aggregation (pivot tables), diff comparison (Table.compare()), and matrix transposing (transpose()).
• Integrations:
  • SQL / SQLite: Browse database tables with SqlDataSource adapter.
  • CSV Parser: Parse CSV strings into tables with CsvTable.from().
  • HTML Scraper: Parse HTML tables directly.
  • JSX Support: Define tables declaratively.
• Streaming: Efficiently render large datasets row-by-row.
• Exports: Export tables to Markdown, CSV, JSON, or HTML.
• Per-Column Formatters: Transform cell values for display via formatter: (v, rowIndex) => string — currency, dates, icons, and more.
• CLI Tool: Standalone executable to pipe JSON / CSV data into formatted tables.

Basic Usage

import { Table } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table();
table.addColumn('Name');
table.addColumn('Role');
table.addColumn('Status');

table.addRow({ Name: 'Alice', Role: 'Dev', Status: 'Active' });
table.addRow({ Name: 'Bob', Role: 'PM', Status: 'Offline' });

console.log(table.render());

Interactive Table (TUI)

Build interactive terminal interfaces using cmd-table.

Use the built-in InteractiveTable class for instant pagination and sorting features without boilerplate. This is the recommended way to display large datasets.

import { Table, InteractiveTable } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table();
// ... add hundreds of rows ...

// Advanced Usage: Handle Selection
const interactive = new InteractiveTable(table, {
    onSelect: (rows) => {
        console.log('Selected:', rows);
        process.exit(0);
    },
    onExit: () => process.exit(0)
});

interactive.start();

Interactive Controls

| Key | Action | | :--- | :--- | | Right / n | Next Page | | Left / p | Previous Page | | s | Sort by Column (Cycle) | | / | Search / Filter Rows | | Space | Select / Deselect Visible Rows | | Enter | Confirm Selection & Exit | | Esc | Clear Search / Clear Selection | | q / Ctrl+C | Quit |

To see it in action:

npx ts-node examples/interactive_table.ts
npx ts-node examples/large_table.ts

Async Data (Pagination)

For very large datasets (databases, APIs), use AsyncInteractiveTable with an IDataSource.

import { AsyncInteractiveTable, IDataSource } from 'cmd-table';

class MyApi implements IDataSource {
    async count() { return 1000; }
    async getRows(offset, limit) { return fetch(`/api/data?skip=${offset}&take=${limit}`); }
}

const app = new AsyncInteractiveTable(new MyApi(), new Table());
app.start();

SQL / SQLite Integration

Browse real database tables interactively using the built-in SqlDataSource adapter (requires better-sqlite3).

npm install better-sqlite3

import Database from 'better-sqlite3';
import { Table, AsyncInteractiveTable, SqlDataSource } from 'cmd-table';

const db = new Database('mydata.db');
const source = new SqlDataSource(db, 'employees');

const template = new Table();
template.addColumn('id');
template.addColumn('name');
template.addColumn('department');

const app = new AsyncInteractiveTable(source, template);
await app.start();
db.close();

SqlDataSource supports pagination, column sorting, and full-text search across all columns.

To run the included demo:

npx ts-node examples/sqlite_demo.ts

Core Features

Styling & Themes

Customize colors for headers and specific columns, or check out built-in themes.

import { Table, THEME_DoubleLine } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table({
  theme: THEME_DoubleLine, // Apply theme globally
  headerColor: 'blue', // Override default magenta
});

table.addColumn({ name: 'Error', color: 'red' });
table.addColumn({ name: 'Warning', color: 'yellow' });

Available themes: THEME_Rounded (Default), THEME_Honeywell, THEME_DoubleLine, THEME_BoldBox, THEME_Dots, THEME_Void.

Data Operations (Sorting)

Sort the table by a specific column.

// Sort by 'Name' in ascending order
table.sort('Name');

// Sort by 'Age' in descending order
table.sort('Age', 'desc');

Pagination

Programmatically paginate your table data.

// Get all pages at once
const pages = table.getPages(10);
pages.forEach(page => console.log(page.render()));

Exports

Export your table data to various formats using the simplified export() method.

// Markdown, CSV, JSON, HTML
const md = table.export('md');
const csv = table.export('csv');
const json = table.export('json');

Advanced Visualization

Tree View (Hierarchical Data)

Visualize nested data structures like file systems or org charts.

import { Table } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table();
table.addColumn('Name');
table.addColumn('Size');

const files = [
  { Name: 'src', Size: '-', children: [{ Name: 'index.ts', Size: '2KB' }] },
  { Name: 'package.json', Size: '1KB' }
];

table.addTree('Name', files);
console.log(table.render());

Auto-Merge (Grouping)

Automatically merge vertically adjacent cells with the same content.

import { Table } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table();
table.addColumn('Department');
table.addColumn('Employee');

table.addRows([
  { Department: 'Engineering', Employee: 'Alice' },
  { Department: 'Engineering', Employee: 'Bob' },
  { Department: 'HR', Employee: 'Charlie' }
]);

// Merges the 'Engineering' cells vertically
table.mergeAdjacent(['Department']);
console.log(table.render());

CrossTab (Matrix View)

Generate a matrix view (e.g., Sales by Product vs Month).

import { CrossTab } from 'cmd-table';

const matrix = CrossTab.create(salesData, {
    rowKey: 'Product',
    colKey: 'Month',
    valueKey: 'Amount',
    aggregator: 'sum', // or 'count', 'first', 'last', or custom function
    missingValue: 0
});
console.log(matrix.render());

Pivot Tables

Group and aggregate data naturally.

import { PivotTable } from 'cmd-table';

const pivot = PivotTable.create(salesData, {
    groupBy: 'Region',
    targetColumn: 'Amount',
    algorithm: 'sum' // or 'avg', 'min', 'max', 'count', or custom function
});
console.log(pivot.render());

Statistical Aggregations

Use built-in statistical functions for your own analysis.

import { Aggregations } from 'cmd-table';

const values = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50];
console.log(Aggregations.avg(values)); // 30
console.log(Aggregations.stdDev(values)); // 14.14
console.log(Aggregations.percentile(values, 0.9)); // 90th percentile

Responsive Layouts

Make your tables adapt to different terminal widths.

const table = new Table({
  // terminalWidth: process.stdout.columns, // Defaults to current terminal width or 80
  responsiveMode: 'hide', // or 'stack'
});

// 'hide': Low priority columns are hidden if they don't fit.
table.addColumn({ name: 'ID', priority: 1 }); // High priority
table.addColumn({ name: 'Description', priority: 0 }); // Low priority

Header Groups & Footers

Group columns or add summaries.

const table = new Table({
  headerGroups: [
    { title: 'Identity', colSpan: 2 }, // Spans 'Name' and 'Role'
    { title: 'Performance', colSpan: 2 } // Spans 'Score' and 'Grade'
  ]
});

// Automatic Summary (Sum, Avg, Count)
table.summarize(['Cost'], 'sum');

Column & Row Spans

Merge cells horizontally manually.

table.addRow([
  { content: 'Summary', colSpan: 2 },
  'Status'
]);

Performance (Streaming)

For very large datasets, use the StreamRenderer to print rows as they are processed.

import { Table, StreamRenderer } from 'cmd-table';
const stream = new StreamRenderer(table);
// ... renderHeader, renderRows, renderFooter ...

CLI Tool

Format JSON / CSV data directly from the terminal.

# Format JSON
cat data.json | npx cmd-table --columns=name,age --theme=double

# Format CSV (Auto-detected)
cat data.csv | npx cmd-table

# Interactive Explorer (TUI)
cat large_data.csv | npx cmd-table --interactive

Direct Access (Power Users)

You are never locked into the "default" way of doing things. You have full access to the table's internal data structures.

const table = new Table();
// ... add data ...

// 1. Manually Sort Rows (Custom Logic)
table.rows.sort((a, b) => {
    // Access raw cell content directly
    const valA = a.cells[1].content; 
    const valB = b.cells[1].content;
    return valA - valB;
});

// 2. Direct Cell Modification
table.rows.forEach(row => {
    const statusCell = row.cells[2];
    if (statusCell.content === 'FAIL') {
        // Manually wrap content in ANSI red
        statusCell.content = `\x1b[31m${statusCell.content}\x1b[39m`; 
    }
});

// 3. Build Your Own Renderer
const myCustomString = table.rows.map(row => row.cells[0].content).join(' | ');

🎨 Visual Enhancements

Sparklines

Render mini bar charts inside cells.

import { Sparkline } from 'cmd-table';

table.addRow({
    history: Sparkline.generate([10, 50, 90, 40, 20]) // Output:  ▄█▄▂
});

Heatmaps

Colorize values based on a range (Low=Red, Mid=Yellow, High=Green).

import { Heatmap } from 'cmd-table';

table.addRow({
    efficiency: Heatmap.color(85, 0, 100) + '%' // Green text
});

Progress Bars

Render inline Unicode block-character progress bars inside any cell, typically via a column formatter.

import { Table, ProgressBar } from 'cmd-table';

const t = new Table();
t.addColumn({ name: 'Module', key: 'module' });
t.addColumn({
    name: 'Coverage',
    key: 'coverage',
    minWidth: 15,
    align: 'right',
    formatter: (v) => ProgressBar.generate(Number(v), 100, { width: 10 }),
});
t.addRow({ module: 'core', coverage: 82 });
t.addRow({ module: 'cli',  coverage: 47 });
console.log(t.render());
// │ core │ ████████░░ 82% │
// │ cli  │ ████░░░░░░ 47% │

ProgressBar.generate(value, max?, options?) options:

| Option | Default | Description | |--------|---------|-------------| | width | 10 | Bar character width | | filled | '█' | Filled character | | empty | '░' | Empty character | | showPercent | true | Append 65% label | | label | auto | Override with custom text, e.g. '3/5' |

Per-Column Formatter Callbacks

Transform cell values for display using a formatter function.

import { Table } from 'cmd-table';

const t = new Table();
t.addColumn({
    name: 'Price', key: 'price',
    minWidth: 10,
    align: 'right',
    formatter: (v) => '$' + Number(v).toFixed(2),
});
t.addColumn({
    name: 'Status', key: 'status',
    formatter: (v) => v === 'ok' ? '✅ OK' : '❌ Fail',
});
t.addRow({ price: 9.5, status: 'ok' });
t.addRow({ price: 99,  status: 'fail' });
console.log(t.render());

• formatter receives the raw cell value as a string and the zero-based row index.
• The header row is never passed through the formatter.
• Works with color, align, wrapWord, and maxWidth.

Conditional Row Styling

Apply an ANSI color to an entire row dynamically based on the data object.

const table = new Table({
    rowColor: (row, index) => {
        if (Number(row.score) >= 90) return 'green';
        if (Number(row.score) >= 70) return 'yellow';
        return 'red';
    }
});

• Header row is unaffected.
• Compatible with per-column formatters and zebra striping.
• Return undefined to leave the row unstyled.

Manual Border Control (drawHorizontalLine)

Gain fine-grained control over which horizontal dividers are drawn using the drawHorizontalLine hook. Each possible horizontal line is assigned an index from 0 (top) to size (bottom).

const table = new Table({
    drawHorizontalLine: (index, size) => {
        // Draw only the top, header separator, and bottom border
        return index === 0 || index === 1 || index === size;
    }
});

Advanced Borders

New themes are available:

import { BUILTIN_THEMES } from 'cmd-table';

const table = new Table({
    theme: BUILTIN_THEMES.doubleHeader // Double lines for header, single for body
    // or BUILTIN_THEMES.thinRounded
});

🔌 Integrations

CSV Parser

Parse CSV strings directly into tables — supports headers, quoted fields, custom delimiters, and CRLF.

import { CsvTable } from 'cmd-table';

const csv = 'name,age\nAlice,30\nBob,25';
const table = CsvTable.from(csv);
console.log(table.render());

// Custom delimiter
const tsv = CsvTable.from(tsvData, { delimiter: '\t' });

HTML Scraper

Parse HTML tables directly into cmd-table. (Zero-dependency, regex-based).

import { HtmlTable } from 'cmd-table';

const html = `<table><tr><td>Data</td></tr></table>`;
const table = HtmlTable.from(html);
console.log(table.render());

Data Exports

Export tables to standard formats using dedicated helpers (symmetric to from methods).

import { HtmlTable, CsvTable, JsonTable } from 'cmd-table';

// Export to HTML string
const html = HtmlTable.toHtml(table);

// Export to CSV string
const csv = CsvTable.toCsv(table);

// Export to JSON string
const json = JsonTable.toJson(table);

React / JSX Support

Define tables using JSX syntax (works with any JSX runtime or our lightweight factory).

import { h, render } from 'cmd-table';

const element = (
    <cmd-table theme="doubleHeader">
        <cmd-column name="Task" key="task" />
        <cmd-row task="Do Chores" />
    </cmd-table>
);

const table = render(element);
console.log(table.render());

Roadmap

Shipped

| Feature | Version | Status | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Core table rendering with themes | v1.0.0 | Done | | Interactive TUI (search, filter, select) | v1.0.0 | Done | | Sparklines & Heatmaps | v1.0.0 | Done | | Pivot tables & CrossTabs | v1.0.0 | Done | | HTML scraper & JSX support | v1.0.0 | Done | | Exports (Markdown, CSV, JSON, HTML) | v1.0.0 | Done | | Responsive layouts | v1.0.0 | Done | | Streaming renderer | v1.0.0 | Done | | Header groups & footers | v1.0.0 | Done | | Auto-merge cells | v1.0.0 | Done | | Tree view | v1.0.0 | Done | | Async Interactive Table & IDataSource | v1.1.0 | Done | | CLI tool with --interactive flag | v1.1.0 | Done | | SQL / SQLite integration | v1.2.0 | Done | | CSV parser (CsvTable.from()) | v1.2.0 | Done | | 183 tests, 16 modules at 100% coverage | v1.2.0–v1.3.0 | Done | | VitePress documentation site | v1.2.2 | Done | | Per-column formatter callbacks | v1.3.0 | Done | | Progress bars in cells (ProgressBar) | v1.3.0 | Done | | Conditional row coloring / zebra striping | v1.3.1 | Done | | Transposed table (table.transpose()) | v1.3.1 | Done | | Border control hooks (drawHorizontalLine) | v1.3.2 | Done | | Dual ESM/CJS exports | v1.3.3 | Done | | Diff table (side-by-side comparison) | v1.4.0 | Done | | Emoji/icon width support | v1.5.0 | Done |

Planned

| Feature | Priority | Status | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Browser console rendering | Medium | Planned | | Gantt-chart rows | Medium | Planned | | YAML export | Medium | Planned | | cmd-table-jest-reporter | Very High | Planned | | cmd-table-vitest-reporter | High | Planned | | cmd-table-oclif plugin | High | Planned | | cmd-table-ink integration | Medium | Planned |

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

This project is governed by the Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code.

License

MIT