Interactive Mode

By default, new-branch prompts for any missing values that are referenced by the pattern. This makes the CLI easy to use without memorizing all the required flags.

How It Works

When a pattern references a variable (like {type}, {title}, or {id}) and that variable hasn't been provided via CLI flags or built-in values, the CLI will prompt you interactively.

# Only providing the pattern — will prompt for type, title, and id
npx new-branch --pattern "{type}/{title:slugify}-{id}"

? Select branch type: (Use arrow keys)
❯ Feature
  Bug Fix
  Chore

? Enter title: Add login page

? Enter id: PROJ-123

Type Selection

When your configuration defines types, the interactive prompt shows them as a selection list instead of a free text input:

{
  "types": [
    { "value": "feat", "label": "Feature" },
    { "value": "fix", "label": "Bug Fix" },
    { "value": "chore", "label": "Chore" }
  ]
}

The label is what the user sees in the prompt, and the value is what gets used in the branch name.

Disabling Prompts

For CI/CD environments or scripts, disable interactive prompts with --no-prompt:

npx new-branch \
  --pattern "{type}/{title:slugify}-{id}" \
  --type feat \
  --title "My task" \
  --no-prompt

If a required value is missing and prompts are disabled, the CLI fails with a descriptive error:

❌ Failed to resolve required values.
   Missing: id

Partial Values

You can provide some values via flags and let the CLI prompt for the rest:

# Provides type, will prompt for title and id
npx new-branch --pattern "{type}/{title:slugify}-{id}" --type feat

Built-in Values

Date and git variables are resolved automatically and never prompted:

• Date variables (year, month, day, date, dateCompact) are derived from system time
• Git variables (currentBranch, shortSha, repoName, userName, lastTag) are derived from the git repository

Only user-provided variables (type, title, id) are prompted when missing.