Auto-Detect CI Environment

Goal

Automatically detect CI environments and adapt CLI behavior — removing the need for explicit flags in most cases.

Install

pnpm add ci-info

Implementation

Detection Function

import ci from 'ci-info'

type RunMode = 'interactive' | 'non-interactive' | string

function detectRunMode(explicit?: string): RunMode {
  // Explicit flag always wins
  if (explicit) return explicit

  // CI environment detected
  if (ci.isCI) {
    // Add CI-specific modes as needed, e.g.:
    // if (ci.GITLAB) return 'gitlab'
    // if (ci.GITHUB_ACTIONS) return 'github-actions'
    return 'non-interactive'
  }

  // Local: check if terminal is interactive
  return process.stdout.isTTY ? 'interactive' : 'non-interactive'
}

Integration Points

1. In Commander action handlers, use detection as default:

const mode = detectRunMode(options.mode)

2. Log the detected mode in verbose/debug:

if (isDebug()) {
  logger.debug(`Run mode: ${mode}${ci.isCI ? ` (detected: ${ci.name})` : ''}`)
}

Behavior Matrix

Environment	TTY	Explicit flag	Result
Local terminal	yes	not set	interactive
Local pipe (mycli show | jq)	no	not set	non-interactive
GitHub Actions	no	not set	non-interactive
GitLab CI	no	not set	non-interactive
Any CI	no	interactive (explicit)	interactive (user override)

Where to Apply

• Commands with interactive prompts (confirmations, selections)
• Output formatting (spinners vs plain text)
• Approval flows (auto-approve in CI vs prompt in terminal)
• Any behavior that differs between human and automated usage

Testing

test('detects CI from environment', () => {
  vi.mock('ci-info', () => ({ isCI: true, GITLAB: false, name: 'GitHub Actions' }))
  expect(detectRunMode()).toBe('non-interactive')
})

test('explicit flag overrides detection', () => {
  expect(detectRunMode('interactive')).toBe('interactive')
})