Color the table output

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ This project uses [Semantic Versioning 2.0.0](http://semver.org/), the format is
 
 - Release artifacts are published only to `dnsimple/cli`. The `dnsimple/homebrew-tap` release mirror is removed, and the install scripts and the Homebrew formula now download from `dnsimple/cli`.
 - The new release notice now prints the release page URL for every installation method, colors the version numbers, and separates itself from the command output with a blank line above and below. `--no-color` and the `NO_COLOR` environment variable turn the color off. The `DNSIMPLE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK` environment variable, which turns the check off, is now documented in the README.
+- Table output puts the header row in bold, and the pagination hints that go with a multi-page list are faint. `--no-color` and the `NO_COLOR` environment variable turn the color off, and redirected output stays plain.
+- The update check no longer runs when the `BUILD_NUMBER` or the `RUN_ID` environment variable is set, and it now requires both the standard output stream and the standard error stream to be a terminal.
 
 ## 0.10.0 - 2026-06-15
 

README.md

@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ dnsimple domains list --format '{{range .}}{{.Name}}{{printf "\n"}}{{end}}'
 
 To discover available template fields, inspect the corresponding `--json` output and use the fields inside `data` as the underlying resource model.
 
-Pass `--no-color`, or set the `NO_COLOR` environment variable, to turn off the colored output.
+Table output puts the header row in bold, and the pagination hints that go with a multi-page list are faint. Pass `--no-color`, or set the `NO_COLOR` environment variable, to turn the colored output off. Redirected output is always plain.
 
 ### Sandbox Environment
 
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ You will need a token created in the sandbox environment. Production tokens will
 
 The CLI checks for a new release at most once every 24 hours and caches the result. When a new release exists, the CLI writes a short notice to the standard error stream after the command output. The notice names the current version, the new version, the command to upgrade your installation, and the release page.
 
-The check does not run when the standard error stream is not a terminal, when the `CI` environment variable is set, or when you run `--version`, `--help`, or `completion`.
+The check does not run when the standard output stream or the standard error stream is not a terminal, when one of the `CI`, `BUILD_NUMBER`, and `RUN_ID` environment variables is set, or when you run `--version`, `--help`, or `completion`.
 
 To turn the check off, set `DNSIMPLE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK`:
 

go.mod

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ go 1.25.4
 require (
 	github.com/cli/browser v1.3.0
 	github.com/dnsimple/dnsimple-go/v9 v9.1.0
+	github.com/fatih/color v1.19.0
 	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.10
 	github.com/spf13/viper v1.21.0
@@ -14,7 +15,6 @@ require (
 )
 
 require (
-	github.com/fatih/color v1.19.0 // indirect
 	github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify v1.9.0 // indirect
 	github.com/go-viper/mapstructure/v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 	github.com/google/go-querystring v1.2.0 // indirect

internal/cli/root.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/dnsimple/cli/internal/cmdutil"
+	"github.com/dnsimple/cli/internal/output"
 	"github.com/dnsimple/cli/internal/update"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"golang.org/x/term"
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ func Execute(version string, args []string) int {
 	var updateCh <-chan *update.CheckResult
 	if update.ShouldCheck(update.Opts{
 		CurrentVersion: version,
-		IsTerminal:     term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stderr.Fd())),
+		IsTerminal:     term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stdout.Fd())) && term.IsTerminal(int(os.Stderr.Fd())),
 		Debug:          debug,
 		Args:           args,
 	}) {
@@ -88,8 +89,7 @@ func Execute(version string, args []string) int {
 	if updateCh != nil {
 		select {
 		case result := <-updateCh:
-			useColor := !f.Flags.NoColor && os.Getenv("NO_COLOR") == ""
-			update.PrintNotice(os.Stderr, result, useColor)
+			update.PrintNotice(os.Stderr, result, output.ColorEnabled(os.Stderr, f.Flags.NoColor))
 		case <-time.After(2 * time.Second):
 		}
 	}

internal/output/color.go

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package output
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"os"
+
+	"golang.org/x/term"
+)
+
+// ColorEnabled reports whether w accepts colored output. The noColor argument
+// carries the --no-color flag. A writer that is not a terminal never gets color,
+// so redirected output and captured test output stay plain.
+func ColorEnabled(w io.Writer, noColor bool) bool {
+	if noColor || os.Getenv("NO_COLOR") != "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	f, ok := w.(*os.File)
+	return ok && term.IsTerminal(int(f.Fd()))
+}

internal/output/color_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package output
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestColorEnabled(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("non-terminal writer", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Setenv("NO_COLOR", "")
+		assert.False(t, ColorEnabled(&bytes.Buffer{}, false))
+	})
+
+	t.Run("no-color flag", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Setenv("NO_COLOR", "")
+		assert.False(t, ColorEnabled(os.Stdout, true))
+	})
+
+	t.Run("NO_COLOR env var", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Setenv("NO_COLOR", "1")
+		assert.False(t, ColorEnabled(os.Stdout, false))
+	})
+}

internal/output/format.go

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"text/template"
+
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 )
 
 // Format represents the output format type.
@@ -74,18 +76,26 @@ func (p *Printer) Print(data Formattable) error {
 // template output are left untouched: JSON already embeds the pagination object.
 func (p *Printer) PrintList(data Formattable, info *PageInfo) error {
 	hint := p.Format == FormatTable && info != nil && info.TotalPages > 1 && p.ErrWriter != nil
+
+	// The hints are advice about the table, so they are faint and the table is not.
+	faint := color.New(color.Faint)
+	faint.DisableColor()
+	if hint && ColorEnabled(p.ErrWriter, p.NoColor) {
+		faint.EnableColor()
+	}
+
 	if hint {
 		// Summary above the table so it stays visible before a long list scrolls past.
-		fmt.Fprintf(p.ErrWriter, "Showing %d of %d %s (page %d of %d).\n\n",
-			info.Shown, info.TotalEntries, info.Noun, info.CurrentPage, info.TotalPages)
+		fmt.Fprintf(p.ErrWriter, "%s\n\n", faint.Sprintf("Showing %d of %d %s (page %d of %d).",
+			info.Shown, info.TotalEntries, info.Noun, info.CurrentPage, info.TotalPages))
 	}
 	if err := p.Print(data); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if hint {
 		// Navigation advice below the table, where it lands next to the prompt.
 		if nav := info.navHint(); nav != "" {
-			fmt.Fprintf(p.ErrWriter, "\n%s\n", nav)
+			fmt.Fprintf(p.ErrWriter, "\n%s\n", faint.Sprint(nav))
 		}
 	}
 	return nil

internal/output/format_test.go

@@ -78,6 +78,37 @@ func TestPrinterPrintTable(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestPrinterPrintListHintsStayPlainWithoutATerminal(t *testing.T) {
+	var out, errOut bytes.Buffer
+	p := &Printer{Writer: &out, ErrWriter: &errOut, Format: FormatTable}
+
+	err := p.PrintList(listData(), &PageInfo{
+		Noun: "records", Shown: 2, CurrentPage: 1, TotalPages: 3, TotalEntries: 6, CanFetchAll: true,
+	})
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	assert.NotContains(t, errOut.String(), "\x1b[")
+	assert.Contains(t, errOut.String(), "Showing 2 of 6 records (page 1 of 3).")
+	assert.Contains(t, errOut.String(), "Pass --all to fetch every page")
+}
+
+func TestPrinterPrintTableStaysPlainWithoutATerminal(t *testing.T) {
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	p := &Printer{Writer: &buf, Format: FormatTable}
+
+	err := p.Print(&stubFormattable{
+		headers: []string{"ID", "NAME"},
+		rows:    [][]string{{"1", "example.com"}},
+	})
+	if !assert.NoError(t, err) {
+		return
+	}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, "ID  NAME\n1   example.com\n", buf.String())
+}
+
 func TestPrinterPrintTableEmptyHeaders(t *testing.T) {
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	p := &Printer{Writer: &buf, Format: FormatTable}

internal/output/table.go

@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 package output
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"strings"
 	"text/tabwriter"
+
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 )
 
 func (p *Printer) printTable(data Formattable) error {
@@ -14,7 +18,8 @@ func (p *Printer) printTable(data Formattable) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	w := tabwriter.NewWriter(p.Writer, 0, 0, 2, ' ', 0)
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	w := tabwriter.NewWriter(&buf, 0, 0, 2, ' ', 0)
 
 	// Print header
 	fmt.Fprintln(w, strings.Join(headers, "\t"))
@@ -24,5 +29,23 @@ func (p *Printer) printTable(data Formattable) error {
 		fmt.Fprintln(w, strings.Join(row, "\t"))
 	}
 
-	return w.Flush()
+	if err := w.Flush(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if !ColorEnabled(p.Writer, p.NoColor) {
+		_, err := p.Writer.Write(buf.Bytes())
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// tabwriter sizes a column by the byte count of its cells, so the escape
+	// sequences go around the laid out header line instead of each header cell.
+	header, body, _ := strings.Cut(buf.String(), "\n")
+	bold := color.New(color.Bold)
+	bold.EnableColor()
+	if _, err := fmt.Fprintln(p.Writer, bold.Sprint(header)); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	_, err := io.WriteString(p.Writer, body)
+	return err
 }

internal/update/notify.go

@@ -15,9 +15,11 @@ import (
 // Opts configures the update check behavior.
 type Opts struct {
 	CurrentVersion string
-	IsTerminal     bool
-	Debug          bool
-	Args           []string
+	// IsTerminal reports whether both the standard output stream and the
+	// standard error stream are terminals.
+	IsTerminal bool
+	Debug      bool
+	Args       []string
 }
 
 // ShouldCheck evaluates whether the update check should run.
@@ -31,7 +33,7 @@ func ShouldCheck(opts Opts) bool {
 	if !opts.IsTerminal {
 		return false
 	}
-	if os.Getenv("CI") != "" {
+	if isCI() {
 		return false
 	}
 	for _, arg := range opts.Args {
@@ -48,6 +50,13 @@ func ShouldCheck(opts Opts) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+// isCI reports whether the CLI runs on a continuous integration service.
+func isCI() bool {
+	return os.Getenv("CI") != "" ||
+		os.Getenv("BUILD_NUMBER") != "" ||
+		os.Getenv("RUN_ID") != ""
+}
+
 // CheckAsync launches a background version check and returns a channel
 // that will receive the result (or nil on error/no update).
 func CheckAsync(ctx context.Context, currentVersion string, debug bool) <-chan *CheckResult {

internal/update/notify_test.go

@@ -37,10 +37,16 @@ func TestShouldCheck(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.False(t, ShouldCheck(opts))
 	})
 
-	t.Run("CI env var", func(t *testing.T) {
-		t.Setenv("CI", "true")
-		assert.False(t, ShouldCheck(base))
-	})
+	ciVars := []string{"CI", "BUILD_NUMBER", "RUN_ID"}
+	for _, name := range ciVars {
+		t.Run("CI env var "+name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			for _, other := range ciVars {
+				t.Setenv(other, "")
+			}
+			t.Setenv(name, "1")
+			assert.False(t, ShouldCheck(base))
+		})
+	}
 
 	t.Run("version flag", func(t *testing.T) {
 		opts := base