chore: use commander built-ins over custom implementations #4642

avivkeller · 2026-01-31T18:42:22Z

Summary

This is still quite a big PR, but I do believe it's an improvement. This PR changes the webpack-cli.ts file to use Commander's help and unknownCommand handlers over the previous custom-implementation.

What kind of change does this PR introduce?

This PR introduces a CLI change in the Commander program.

Did you add tests for your changes?

Nothing substantial changed that required additional tests, but all previous tests pass.

Note that tests that tested features that are no handled internally were removed, as those are tested by Commander, and don't need to be tested by us.

Also note that the commander unknown command output is slightly different from the previous implementation, so a few snapshots have been changed, but seeing as it's just one stderr line, I don't think it's a breaking change.

Does this PR introduce a breaking change?

As mentioned above, this PR does not include any breaking changes to CLI. The only difference is a slightly different output when an invalid command is passed (Commander gives recommendations in ()), but that's not breaking.

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR refactors the webpack CLI to rely on Commander’s built-in help, error handling, and unknown-command behavior instead of custom implementations, while simplifying option wiring across built-in and external commands.

Changes:

Rewrote WebpackCLI.run and related plumbing to construct commands/options via Commander primitives, using showHelpAfterError, exitOverride, and unknownCommand rather than custom help/validation logic.
Simplified makeCommand / makeOption APIs and types, and updated built-in commands (build, watch, serve, info, configtest) plus their tests and snapshots to match Commander’s output and suggestion formats.
Removed the custom help rendering path and the fastest-levenshtein dependency, tightened spell-check configuration, and updated tests/snapshots for help and unknown-command/option behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 13 out of 15 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts`	Core refactor: configures Commander output/exit behavior, rebuilds built-in commands and options using `makeCommand`/`makeOption`, and hooks global `--help` / `--version` / color flags into Commander instead of custom parsing.
`packages/webpack-cli/src/types.ts`	Updates CLI types to match the new `makeCommand`/`makeOption` contract, introduces `WebpackCallback` typing for compiler callbacks, and adjusts logger and option metadata types.
`packages/webpack-cli/src/bootstrap.ts`	Simplifies CLI bootstrap to call `cli.run(args)` and adds a small helper to auto-run when invoked from an `npm_lifecycle_script` named `tsx`.
`packages/webpack-cli/package.json`	Removes the `fastest-levenshtein` dependency now that Commander drives unknown-option suggestions.
`packages/serve/src/index.ts`	Changes `ServeCommand.apply` to accept pre-built options, derive dev-server flags via `cli.webpack.cli.getArguments`, and register `serve` using the new `makeCommand` / `makeOption` flow.
`packages/info/src/index.ts`	Registers `info` via `makeCommand`, wiring its options through `cli.makeOption`, and extends aliases to include `version`/`v` so these commands reuse the info implementation.
`packages/configtest/src/index.ts`	Registers `configtest` via the new `makeCommand` API, leaving the validation logic intact but delegating CLI wiring to the shared helpers.
`test/help/help.test.js`	Prunes now-redundant help tests and adjusts the remaining tests to assert equivalence between `--help` and `help` command syntax plus the new invalid `--help=<value>` behavior.
`test/help/__snapshots__/help.test.js.snap.devServer5.webpack5`	Updates help snapshots to match Commander’s default help layout and wording for the root and command-specific help output.
`test/build/unknown/__snapshots__/unknown.test.js.snap.webpack5`	Refreshes snapshots for unknown flags/commands to reflect Commander’s suggestion format and colorized stderr output.
`test/build/basic/basic.test.js`	Updates expectations for unknown-command messaging (e.g., `Unknown command 'buil'` and new suggestion phrasing) consistent with Commander’s output.
`test/api/CLI.test.js`	Reworks CLI API tests to use the new `makeCommand`/`makeOption` signatures, exercising a wide variety of option shapes/types against the refactored wiring.
`test/api/__snapshots__/CLI.test.js.snap.webpack5`	Removes the snapshot for the now-deleted custom help output, since help is delegated to Commander.
`package-lock.json`	Syncs lockfile with dependency changes (notably removing `fastest-levenshtein` and marking a dependency as `peer: true`).
`.cspell.json`	Tightens spell-check configuration, enabling `useGitignore` and simplifying ignore paths to avoid checking snapshots and package manifests.

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Copilot · 2026-01-31T18:49:42Z

packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts

+      warn: (val, raw) => log("warn", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),
+      info: (val, raw) => log("info", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),
+      success: (val, raw) => log("log", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),
+      log: (val, raw) => log("error", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),


The new getLogger implementation appears to regress the log levels and output streams: warn, info, and success all use this.colors.red(...), and log delegates to log("error", ...), which routes messages to stderr. Previously these methods used different colors and log went to standard output, and other parts of the code (e.g. CLIPlugin.setupHelpfulOutput) expect logger.log to behave as a general info logger, not an error logger. Please restore distinct colors for warn/info/success and have log write to stdout (e.g. via console.log or the log branch of the helper), to avoid misclassified and mis-colored output.

Suggested change

warn: (val, raw) => log("warn", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),

info: (val, raw) => log("info", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),

success: (val, raw) => log("log", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),

log: (val, raw) => log("error", this.colors.red(util.format(val)), raw),

warn: (val, raw) => log("warn", this.colors.yellow(util.format(val)), raw),

info: (val, raw) => log("info", this.colors.cyan(util.format(val)), raw),

success: (val, raw) => log("log", this.colors.green(util.format(val)), raw),

log: (val, raw) => log("log", this.colors.cyan(util.format(val)), raw),

Why it was changed if you write - Commander's help and unknownCommand handlers? How logger related to these changes?

Copilot · 2026-01-31T18:49:43Z

packages/webpack-cli/src/types.ts

+declare interface WebpackCallback {
+  (err: null | Error, result?: Stats): void;
+  (err: null | Error, result?: MultiStats): void;
+}
+


WebpackCallback is declared twice in this file (once at lines 29-32 and again here at 79-82) with identical signatures. The duplicate declaration is redundant and can be confusing for maintainers; please remove one of them and keep a single definition that is exported as needed.

Suggested change

declare interface WebpackCallback {

(err: null | Error, result?: Stats): void;

(err: null | Error, result?: MultiStats): void;

}

codecov · 2026-01-31T18:52:05Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 95.65%. Comparing base (feae23e) to head (9c127f3).

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main    #4642   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   95.65%   95.65%           
=======================================
  Files           2        2           
  Lines          23       23           
  Branches        4        4           
=======================================
  Hits           22       22           
  Misses          1        1

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alexander-akait

A lot of unrelated changed, at lease split PRs into small steps (commits), we have stable CLI over a lot of year and I sorry I can't review this code because a lot of different changes mixed in the one PR

alexander-akait · 2026-02-01T14:57:13Z

At least please make logical commits and we can read what and where and why was changed

alexander-akait · 2026-02-01T14:58:48Z

packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts

-  makeOption(command: WebpackCLICommand, option: WebpackCLIBuiltInOption) {
-    let mainOption: WebpackCLIMainOption;
-    let negativeOption;
+  makeOption(option: WebpackCLIBuiltInOption): WebpackCLICommandOption[] {


Why makeOption was changed? Again - it is only Commander's help and unknownCommand handlers

alexander-akait · 2026-02-01T14:59:53Z

packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts

-      ...builtInFlags,
-      ...Object.entries(this.webpack.cli.getArguments()).map<WebpackCLIBuiltInOption>(
+    let coreOptions: WebpackCLIBuiltInOption[] = [];
+    if (this.webpack) {


We always have webpack here

alexander-akait · 2026-02-01T15:00:35Z

packages/webpack-cli/src/webpack-cli.ts

-        if (builtInExternalCommandInfo) {
-          ({ pkg } = builtInExternalCommandInfo);
-        } else {
-          pkg = commandName;


Again - please split help changes and sumcommand refactor into two PRs (and maybe even more)

avivkeller · 2026-02-01T16:28:25Z

A lot of these changes are interconnected, but perhaps if it aint broken, there's no need to fix it.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings January 31, 2026 18:42

avivkeller requested a review from a team as a code owner January 31, 2026 18:42

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of avivkeller January 31, 2026 18:42 View session

chore: use commander built-ins over custom implementations

ad96398

avivkeller force-pushed the chore/commander-simplifications branch from f92627e to ad96398 Compare January 31, 2026 18:45

fixup!

9c127f3

Copilot AI reviewed Jan 31, 2026

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avivkeller marked this pull request as draft January 31, 2026 18:53

alexander-akait requested changes Feb 1, 2026

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alexander-akait reviewed Feb 1, 2026

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avivkeller closed this Feb 1, 2026

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