What is cmd-table?

cmd-table is a modern, zero-runtime-dependency CLI table library for Node.js. You give it data, you get a beautifully rendered table — with optional interactivity, visualizations, and async pagination on top.

See it first

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

const table = new Table({ headerColor: 'magenta' });
table.addColumn({ name: 'Module', key: 'module' });
table.addColumn({
  name: 'Coverage',
  key: 'coverage',
  formatter: (v) => ProgressBar.generate(Number(v), 100, { width: 12 }),
});

table.addRow({ module: 'core', coverage: 82 });
table.addRow({ module: 'cli', coverage: 47 });
table.addRow({ module: 'plugins', coverage: 100 });

console.log(table.render());

╭─────────┬──────────────────╮
│ Module  │ Coverage         │
├─────────┼──────────────────┤
│ core    │ ██████████▒▒ 82% │
│ cli     │ █████▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 47% │
│ plugins │ ████████████ 100%│
╰─────────┴──────────────────╯

That's the entire mental model. Columns describe shape and styling, rows carry data, formatters transform cell values at render time. Everything else (themes, async, TUI, exports) is layered on top of those primitives.

Why pick cmd-table?

The popular alternatives — cli-table3, table, tty-table — are stable but quiet. cmd-table is actively maintained in 2026 and ships features the others don't:

	cmd-table	cli-table3	table	tty-table
Zero runtime dependencies	✓	—	—	—
Interactive TUI (search, filter, select)	✓	—	—	—
Async pagination (databases, APIs)	✓	—	—	—
Sparklines / Heatmaps / Progress bars	✓	—	—	—
Pivot tables & cross-tabs	✓	—	—	—
Diff tables	✓	—	—	—
CSV / HTML import + export	✓	—	—	—
Tree view	✓	—	—	—
JSX / React syntax	✓	—	—	—
Per-column formatters	✓	—	—	✓
Streaming renderer	✓	—	✓	—
Responsive layouts	✓	—	—	✓
TypeScript-first	✓	partial	✓	—

What you can build with it

• DevOps dashboards that live-update status tables in CI logs.
• Data explorers that page through SQL queries or REST endpoints interactively.
• CLI reports with currency formatting, conditional colors, and progress bars in cells.
• Log viewers with search and filter built in.
• Admin tools — ticket browsers, user lists, inventory views — without writing a TUI from scratch.
• Custom test reporters (we ship Jest and Vitest reporters as separate packages).

How it's put together

Table  (core data model)
├── Column[]              — structure & per-column config
├── Row[] → Cell[]        — your data
├── LayoutManager         — grid layout, span resolution, responsive logic
├── Renderers
│   ├── StringRenderer    — ANSI terminal output (the default)
│   ├── StreamRenderer    — row-by-row for huge datasets
│   ├── CsvRenderer
│   ├── JsonRenderer
│   ├── HtmlRenderer
│   └── MarkdownRenderer
├── InteractiveTable      — keyboard-driven TUI on top of a Table
├── AsyncInteractiveTable + IDataSource — paginated remote data
└── Analysis              — PivotTable, CrossTab, Aggregations

You only reach for the parts you need. The basic flow (new Table() → addRow() → render()) doesn't load any of the async, TUI, or analysis code.

Next

• Coming from cli-table3? Read the migration guide — it's a 5-minute drop-in.
• New here? Get started in 30 seconds.
• Looking for a specific pattern? Skim the recipes.