Arduino Interactive CLI (aci)

A user-friendly interactive CLI tool that bridges the gap between Arduino IDE and arduino-cli, perfect for developers transitioning to command-line workflows.

Overview

Arduino Interactive CLI (aci) is designed for developers who want to harness the power of arduino-cli without the intimidation of raw command-line interfaces. It provides an intuitive, menu-driven experience while maintaining the efficiency and control of CLI workflows.

Perfect for:

• Developers transitioning from Arduino IDE to CLI
• Advanced users seeking faster workflows
• Anyone who wants a polished TUI experience for Arduino development

Features

Current Features ✅

• Board Management: Select and configure Arduino boards with ease
• Sketch Operations: Create, edit, compile, and upload sketches
• Bootloader Support: Upload for both old and new bootloaders
• Library Management:
  • Install libraries from the Arduino ecosystem
  • View installed libraries
  • Search and compile library examples
• Core Installation: Support for ESP8266, ESP32, and other 3rd-party cores
• Serial Monitor: Built-in serial communication (V1.0.3+)
• Auto-dependency Management: Automatically installs required tools
• Beginner-Friendly Examples: Built-in starter code (Blink, Serial, etc.)

Coming Soon 🚧

• TL;DR documentation for quick reference
• Nushell and Fish shell support

Quick Start

Try before installing:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive/refs/heads/main/bash_shell_script/main.sh | bash

Installation

Recommended: Homebrew

The easiest installation method with automatic dependency management:

brew install vaishnav-sabari-girish/arduino-cli-interactive/aci

First-time setup:

1. Create a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) for update notifications:

   • Visit GitHub Token Settings
   • Create a "Tokens (Classic)" with repo permissions

2. Add to your shell configuration (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

   export ACI_GITHUB_TOKEN="your_token_here"

3. Reload your shell:

   source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

Alternative: Basher

For Bash script package manager users:

basher install Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive

Run with: aci.sh

Note: Manual installation of dependencies required: gum, timer, arduino-cli, and homebrew. If using Basher, ensure Homebrew is installed and added to your PATH.

To upgrade:

basher uninstall Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive
basher install Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive

From Source

Clone from your preferred platform:

# GitHub
git clone https://github.com/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive.git

# Codeberg
git clone https://codeberg.org/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive.git

# Gitea
git clone https://gitea.com/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive.git

cd bash_shell_script
chmod +x main.sh
./main.sh

Add to your shell configuration:

alias aci="/path/to/arduino-cli-interactive/bash_shell_script/main.sh"

Then reload: source ~/.bashrc or source ~/.zshrc

Prerequisites

Note: Homebrew installation handles dependencies automatically. Manual installation only needed if installing from source or using Basher.

1. arduino-cli

Recommended: Homebrew

If you don't have Homebrew installed:

macOS/Linux:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Windows Users: Use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and follow Linux instructions. Learn WSL: NetworkChuck's WSL Tutorial

After installing Homebrew:

brew update
brew install arduino-cli

Alternative: Installation Script (Linux/macOS/WSL only)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arduino/arduino-cli/master/install.sh | sh

Pre-built Binaries: Available at arduino-cli releases

📚 arduino-cli Documentation

2. gum

A TUI framework by Charm:

# macOS or Linux
brew install gum

# Arch Linux
pacman -S gum

# Nix
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.gum

# Flox
flox install gum

# Windows (via WinGet or Scoop) - WSL recommended
winget install charmbracelet.gum
scoop install charm-gum

🔗 gum GitHub Repository

3. timer

Interactive progress bar alternative to sleep:

brew install caarlos0/tap/timer

🔗 timer GitHub Repository

Usage

Initial Setup

Install Arduino AVR core for basic boards:

arduino-cli board listall
arduino-cli core install arduino:avr

Running aci

Simply type aci in your terminal (or aci.sh if installed via Basher).

Updating

Homebrew

brew update && brew upgrade aci

From Source

# Delete old installation, then:
git clone https://github.com/Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive.git
cd bash_shell_script
chmod +x main.sh
./main.sh

Basher

basher uninstall Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive
basher install Vaishnav-Sabari-Girish/arduino-cli-interactive

Uninstalling

brew uninstall aci
brew untap vaishnav-sabari-girish/arduino-cli-interactive

Documentation

• 📖 GitHub Pages
• 📖 Codeberg Pages

Repository Information

Generated using onefetch and tokei

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our guidelines:

• Contributor Guidelines
• Mentor Guidelines

Community & Links

Featured On:

• awesome-tuis
• TerminalTrove.com

License

Licensed under Apache 2.0

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