Package

optimist

Light-weight option parsing with an argv hash. No optstrings attached.

v0.6.1, 6 Feb 2014MIT/X11CommonJSTypes: NoneCLI tools and terminal utilities

$ npm install optimist

npm GitHub Homepage

Key numbers

As of 25 Sept 2026

Weekly downloads: 3.5m; -9% over 12 months
Gzip bundle size: -; No Bundlephobia data
Dependencies: 2; Direct, from package.json
Last release: 12 years ago; v0.6.1
GitHub stars: -
Open issues / PRs: - / -
Contributors: -
Commits, last 52 weeks: -

Downloads

Last week 2026-09-15 to 2026-09-21

Weekly npm downloads, one point per week, weeks starting 23 Sept 2025 to 15 Sept 2026. The y axis starts at zero.

3,540,391 downloads last week, 13,167,256 in the last month. The 12-month change of -9% compares the average of the last 4 weeks with the first 4 weeks of the series.

Maintenance

Releases, last 12 months: 039 in total
Latest version: 0.6.1, 6 Feb 201412 years ago
First published: 21 Dec 2010
Last push to GitHub: -
Repository archived: -
Open issues: -
Open pull requests: -
Commits, last 52 weeks: -
Dependents on npm: 4,402

Major versions

v0 first release 0.0.1, 21 Dec 2010

Recent releases

Version	Published
0.6.1	6 Feb 2014
0.6.0	25 Jun 2013
0.5.2	31 May 2013
0.5.1	30 May 2013
0.5.0	18 May 2013
0.4.0	13 Apr 2013
0.3.7	4 Apr 2013
0.3.6	4 Apr 2013
0.3.5	10 Oct 2012
0.3.4	30 Apr 2012
0.3.3	30 Apr 2012
0.3.1	31 Dec 2011
0.3.0	9 Dec 2011
0.2.8	20 Oct 2011

Compatibility

Module format: CommonJSFrom package.json type, main and exports fields
TypeScript types: None
Node.js engine range: Not declared
Runtimes: -
Unpacked size (npm): -
Dependencies (2): minimistwordwrap

Install

npm install optimist

CDN

jsDelivrhttps://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/optimist@0.6.1/
unpkghttps://unpkg.com/optimist@0.6.1/
esm.shhttps://esm.sh/optimist@0.6.1

Alternatives

Package	Weekly downloads	Gzip	Last release	Module	Comparison
yargs yargs the modern, pirate-themed, successor to optimist.	194.7m	-	4 days ago	ESM only	-
clipanion Type-safe CLI library / framework with no runtime dependencies	3.6m	-	2 years ago	ESM + CommonJS	-
yargs-parser the mighty option parser used by yargs	193.6m	-	1 year ago	ESM only	-
jackspeak A very strict and proper argument parser.	81.1m	-	7 months ago	ESM + CommonJS	-
commander the complete solution for node.js command-line programs	375.2m	-	3 months ago	ESM only	-
dashdash A light, featureful and explicit option parsing library.	16.1m	-	5 years ago	CommonJS	-
command-line-args A mature, feature-complete library to parse command-line options.	5.7m	-	6 months ago	ESM + CommonJS	-
ts-command-line-args A Typescript wrapper around command-line-args with additional support for markdown usage guide generation	349.8k	-	3 years ago	CommonJS	-

Sources: npm registry, npm downloads API, GitHub API. Data fetched 25 Sept 2026.

Indexability: Indexed.