feat(cli): add t and w aliases for translate and write

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added
 
+- **cli**: `t` and `w` command aliases for `translate` and `write` ([#12](https://github.com/DeepL/deepl-cli/issues/12)). The aliases appear in `--help` output and in bash/zsh/fish shell completions. `w` is deliberately assigned to `write` rather than `watch` — write is a primary API feature, watch a workflow helper.
+
 - **ci**: Pushing a `v*` tag now runs the full release pipeline. The npm publish job is enabled (it was hard-disabled with `if: false` since its introduction, which is why the repo has 17 tags and zero GitHub Releases); it authenticates with a granular `NPM_TOKEN` for the first publish and keeps `--provenance` attestation. A new, deliberately independent `release` job creates a GitHub Release from the tag, with notes extracted from the version's CHANGELOG section (falling back to generated notes if the section is missing) — a publish failure cannot suppress the Release, and vice versa. A `homebrew` formula-bump job (version + sha256 PR against `DeepL/homebrew-tap`) ships gated with `if: false` until the tap repo and its cross-repo token exist.
 - **cli**: Global `--timeout <ms>` and `--max-retries <n>` options override the HTTP transport defaults (30000 ms, 3 retries) for a single invocation. Neither was previously configurable from the CLI.
 - **translate**: `--format json` output now includes the documented `cached` boolean, so scripts can distinguish cache hits from fresh API calls.

README.md

@@ -133,6 +133,9 @@ export DEEPL_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY
 deepl translate "Hello, world!" --to es
 # Output:
 # ¡Hola, mundo!
+
+# Short alias: t (and w for write)
+deepl t "Hello, world!" --to es
 ```
 
 ## 🔧 Global Options

docs/API.md

@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ Translate text, files, or directories.
 
 ```bash
 deepl translate [OPTIONS] [TEXT|FILE|DIRECTORY]
+deepl t [OPTIONS] [TEXT|FILE|DIRECTORY]        # alias
 ```
 
 #### Description
@@ -670,6 +671,7 @@ Improve text with DeepL Write API (grammar, style, tone enhancement).
 
 ```bash
 deepl write [OPTIONS] TEXT
+deepl w [OPTIONS] TEXT        # alias
 ```
 
 #### Description

src/cli/commands/completion.ts

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export class CompletionCommand {
     const topLevel: string[] = [];
 
     for (const cmd of this.program.commands) {
-      topLevel.push(cmd.name());
+      topLevel.push(cmd.name(), ...cmd.aliases());
       const subcommands = cmd.commands.map((sub) => sub.name());
       if (subcommands.length > 0) {
         tree.set(cmd.name(), subcommands);
@@ -36,8 +36,12 @@ export class CompletionCommand {
     return tree;
   }
 
+  private findCommand(name: string): Command | undefined {
+    return this.program.commands.find((c) => c.name() === name || c.aliases().includes(name));
+  }
+
   private getCommandOptions(cmdName: string): string[] {
-    const cmd = this.program.commands.find((c) => c.name() === cmdName);
+    const cmd = this.findCommand(cmdName);
     if (!cmd) {
       return [];
     }
@@ -144,7 +148,7 @@ complete -F _deepl_completions deepl
 
     const topLevelDescriptions: string[] = [];
     for (const cmdName of topLevel) {
-      const cmd = this.program.commands.find((c) => c.name() === cmdName);
+      const cmd = this.findCommand(cmdName);
       const desc = cmd ? cmd.description().replace(/'/g, "'\\''") : '';
       topLevelDescriptions.push(`'${cmdName}:${desc}'`);
     }
@@ -218,7 +222,7 @@ _deepl "$@"
     const noSubcmdCondition = '__fish_use_subcommand';
 
     for (const cmdName of topLevel) {
-      const cmd = this.program.commands.find((c) => c.name() === cmdName);
+      const cmd = this.findCommand(cmdName);
       const desc = cmd ? cmd.description() : '';
       lines.push(`complete -c deepl -n '${noSubcmdCondition}' -a '${cmdName}' -d '${desc.replace(/'/g, "\\'")}'`);
     }

src/cli/commands/register-translate.ts

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ export function registerTranslate(
 
   program
     .command('translate')
+    .alias('t')
     .description('Translate text, files, or directories using DeepL API')
     .argument('[text]', 'Text, file path, or directory to translate (or read from stdin)')
     .optionsGroup('Core Options:')

src/cli/commands/register-write.ts

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ export function registerWrite(
 
   program
     .command('write')
+    .alias('w')
     .description('Improve text using DeepL Write API (grammar, style, tone)')
     .argument('[text]', 'Text to improve, file path, or read from stdin')
     .optionsGroup('Core Options:')

tests/e2e/cli-aliases.e2e.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+/**
+ * E2E Tests for Command Aliases
+ * Tests that `deepl t` and `deepl w` dispatch to translate and write
+ */
+
+import { createTestConfigDir, makeNodeRunCLI } from '../helpers';
+
+describe('Command Aliases E2E', () => {
+  const testConfig = createTestConfigDir('e2e-aliases');
+  const { runCLI, runCLIExpectError } = makeNodeRunCLI(testConfig.path);
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    testConfig.cleanup();
+  });
+
+  describe('deepl t', () => {
+    it('should show translate help under the alias', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('t --help');
+      expect(output).toContain('translate|t');
+      expect(output).toContain('--to <language>');
+    });
+
+    it('should dispatch to translate validation logic', () => {
+      const result = runCLIExpectError('t "Hello" --to es --tm-threshold abc');
+      expect(result.status).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(result.output).toContain('--tm-threshold must be an integer');
+    });
+
+    it('should fail identically to translate on an unknown option', () => {
+      const viaAlias = runCLIExpectError('t --no-such-flag');
+      const viaFull = runCLIExpectError('translate --no-such-flag');
+      expect(viaAlias.status).toBe(viaFull.status);
+      expect(viaAlias.status).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(viaAlias.output).toContain('unknown option');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('deepl w', () => {
+    it('should show write help under the alias', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('w --help');
+      expect(output).toContain('write|w');
+      expect(output).toContain('--style <style>');
+    });
+
+    it('should dispatch to write option validation', () => {
+      const result = runCLIExpectError('w "Hello" --format bogus');
+      expect(result.status).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(result.output).toContain("Allowed choices are text, json");
+    });
+
+    it('should fail identically to write on an unknown option', () => {
+      const viaAlias = runCLIExpectError('w --no-such-flag');
+      const viaFull = runCLIExpectError('write --no-such-flag');
+      expect(viaAlias.status).toBe(viaFull.status);
+      expect(viaAlias.status).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(viaAlias.output).toContain('unknown option');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('help output', () => {
+    it('should list both aliases in top-level help', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('--help');
+      expect(output).toContain('translate|t');
+      expect(output).toContain('write|w');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('shell completion', () => {
+    it('should offer t and w in bash completions', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('completion bash');
+      expect(output).toMatch(/compgen -W "[^"]*\btranslate t\b/);
+      expect(output).toMatch(/compgen -W "[^"]*\bwrite w\b/);
+    });
+
+    it('should offer t and w in zsh completions', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('completion zsh');
+      expect(output).toMatch(/'t:.*[Tt]ranslate/);
+      expect(output).toMatch(/'w:.*[Ww]rite/);
+    });
+
+    it('should offer t and w in fish completions', () => {
+      const output = runCLI('completion fish');
+      expect(output).toContain("-a 't'");
+      expect(output).toContain("-a 'w'");
+    });
+  });
+});

tests/integration/cli-translate.integration.test.ts

@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ describe('Translate CLI Integration', () => {
 
       // Text should be optional (can use stdin)
       // Shown in usage line as [text]
-      expect(output).toContain('translate [options] [text]');
+      expect(output).toContain('translate|t [options] [text]');
       expect(output).toContain('Arguments:');
     });
 

tests/unit/completion-command.test.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ describe('CompletionCommand', () => {
 
     program
       .command('translate')
+      .alias('t')
       .description('Translate text or files')
       .option('-t, --to <lang>', 'Target language')
       .option('-f, --from <lang>', 'Source language');
@@ -275,4 +276,21 @@ describe('CompletionCommand', () => {
       expect(zsh).toContain('_deepl_style_rules()');
     });
   });
+
+  describe('command aliases', () => {
+    it('bash: offers aliases as top-level completions', () => {
+      const script = completionCommand.generate('bash');
+      expect(script).toContain('compgen -W "translate t auth');
+    });
+
+    it('zsh: offers aliases with the aliased command description', () => {
+      const script = completionCommand.generate('zsh');
+      expect(script).toContain("'t:Translate text or files'");
+    });
+
+    it('fish: offers aliases with the aliased command description', () => {
+      const script = completionCommand.generate('fish');
+      expect(script).toContain("-a 't' -d 'Translate text or files'");
+    });
+  });
 });

tests/unit/register-translate.test.ts

@@ -57,6 +57,21 @@ describe('registerTranslate', () => {
     ({ program } = setupProgram());
   });
 
+  describe('alias', () => {
+    it('registers t as an alias of translate', () => {
+      const translateCmd = program.commands.find(c => c.name() === 'translate')!;
+      expect(translateCmd.aliases()).toContain('t');
+    });
+
+    it('shows the alias in help output', () => {
+      const translateCmd = program.commands.find(c => c.name() === 'translate')!;
+      let helpOutput = '';
+      translateCmd.configureOutput({ writeOut: (str: string) => { helpOutput += str; } });
+      translateCmd.outputHelp();
+      expect(helpOutput).toContain('translate|t');
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('--output-format option', () => {
     it('should only accept docx as a valid choice', () => {
       const translateCmd = program.commands.find(c => c.name() === 'translate')!;

tests/unit/register-write.test.ts

@@ -80,6 +80,20 @@ describe('registerWrite', () => {
     process.exitCode = undefined;
   });
 
+  describe('alias', () => {
+    it('registers w as an alias of write', () => {
+      const writeCmd = program.commands.find(c => c.name() === 'write')!;
+      expect(writeCmd.aliases()).toContain('w');
+    });
+
+    it('dispatches w to the write action', async () => {
+      mockWriteCommand.improve.mockResolvedValue('Improved text');
+      await program.parseAsync(['node', 'test', 'w', 'Hello world']);
+      expect(mockWriteCommand.improve).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Hello world', expect.any(Object));
+      expect(Logger.output).toHaveBeenCalledWith('Improved text');
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('basic improve (text)', () => {
     it('should improve text and output result', async () => {
       mockWriteCommand.improve.mockResolvedValue('Improved text');