Lightning Talk Intermediate

Under the Hood: The Craftsmanship of Creating High-Performance CLIs in Golang

Approved

Session Description

Command-line interfaces (CLIs) are fundamentally an important component of developer productivity and automation, yet many developers hesitate to build their own tools due to perceived complexity. In this talk, I will share my journey of going from no prior CLI experience to creating a fully functional, user-friendly CLI application in just four weeks using Golang and the Cobra library. The session will delve into the Unix philosophy as the foundation for understanding effective CLI design from the ground up, emphasizing simplicity, composability, and doing one thing well. Attendees will learn how to craft intuitive commands with human-first design principles, balancing clear, minimal output with actionable feedback.

We will explore Cobra’s powerful features, including subcommands, flags, shell completions, and intelligent suggestions, demonstrating how they accelerate and enhance the user experience. The talk will also cover advanced topics, including integrating natural language processing (NLP) to enable conversational command parsing, best practices for testing and configuration management, and strategies for error handling and security. Through code examples and my insights, this session equips developers to build scalable, maintainable CLIs that help users and fit into modern workflows.

Target Audience:

Go developers and software engineers interested in CLI development
DevOps practitioners and automation enthusiasts seeking better tooling
Beginners eager to learn practical CLI building from scratch
Technical leads and architects exploring scalable CLI design patterns
Anyone curious about blending traditional CLI design with modern NLP techniques

This talk aligns with FOSS United’s mission by empowering developers to create open, efficient, and user-friendly CLI tools that can be freely shared and extended within the community.

Key Takeaways

Key Highlights:

Applying Unix philosophy to design modular, composable CLI commands
Human-first CLI design: usability, discoverability, and meaningful output
Deep dive into Cobra’s architecture and advanced features
Structuring Go CLI projects for scalability and maintainability
Integrating NLP to enhance developer interaction and command discovery
Best practices for testing, configuration, logging, and error handling
Performance optimizations and security considerations for CLI tools

References

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KfUpNRFjX7tOT2pRcXmjLVbzadwD50-1Hm82SwEIS3s/edit?usp=sharing

Session Categories

Engineering practice - productivity, debugging

Which track are you applying for?

Compilers, Programming Languages and Systems Devroom

Speakers

Harini Anand

SDE for watsonx.data, Data and AI | IBM

I am Harini Anand, a Software Engineering Researcher at UIUC, and I currently work as a Software Developer at IBM in the Data & AI Division, on IBM watsonx™.

I previously worked at Niramai Health Analytix, a deep tech startup focusing on Breast Cancer, and used ML frameworks as a Research Intern at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad to predict gene regulatory networks. I have also built cognitive tools for reducing the onset of Dementia as a student entrepreneur. I led the largest technical community on campus and also held workshops and gave talks on Machine Learning, NLP, and Data Science.

I’ve been admitted to top summer schools at Oxford University, London, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which specialize in the applications of AI in Healthcare. I am a Google KaggleX Mentee, an AWS Scholar, and have been awarded merit scholarships. I am a strong advocate for representation in STEM, and recognized as a High Impact APAC Ambassador for the Women In Data Science Community, an initiative by Stanford University. I am also a Harvard WE Tech Fellow.

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