auntiepypi

auntie (Python distribution: auntiepypi) is both a CLI and an agent that maintains, uses, and serves the CLI for managing PyPI packages. It overviews packages on pypi.org, detects PyPI-flavored servers running locally, starts/stops/restarts declared servers, and hosts a first-party PEP 503 simple-index — informational first, actionable on demand.

What auntie is

A small CLI plus a stable plumbing layer that an agent inside the AgentCulture mesh can call. Read verbs (overview, learn, explain, whoami, doctor without --apply) read configuration and probe state but never write to disk or bind a port. Mutation verbs (doctor --apply, up, down, restart, publish) do exactly one thing each, and every dangerous surface (public binding, POST upload, config edits) requires explicit operator opt-in. The first-party server runs on loopback by default and stays read-only until publish_users is set. See docs/architecture.md for the module map and docs/security.md for the threat model.

Status

Roadmap is descriptive of intent, not a commitment.

Docs

• docs/about.md — non-technical explainer.
• docs/architecture.md — module map, state surfaces, read-only vs write-capable verbs.
• docs/security.md — defaults, public-binding rules, publish authorization, body cap, file permissions.
• docs/comparison.md — when to pick auntie vs pypiserver / devpi / twine.
• docs/superpowers/specs/ — per-milestone design docs (decisions and rationale).

Quick start

uv tool install auntiepypi
auntie --version
auntie overview --json | jq '.sections[] | select(.category == "servers")'
auntie overview requests            # deep-dive into a PyPI package
auntie doctor                       # diagnose declared servers (dry-run)
auntie doctor --apply               # act on actionable remediations
auntie up                           # start the first-party PEP 503 server
auntie up <name>                    # start one declared server
auntie up --all                     # first-party server + every supervised declaration
auntie down                         # stop the first-party server
auntie restart <name>               # atomic for systemd-user; stop+start for command
AUNTIE_PUBLISH_USER=alice \
AUNTIE_PUBLISH_PASSWORD=secret \
  auntie publish dist/mypkg-1.0.whl  # upload via twine-compatible POST (v0.8.0)

Example servers-section output (one declared server):

{
  "category": "servers",
  "title": "main",
  "light": "green",
  "fields": [
    {"name": "flavor", "value": "pypiserver"},
    {"name": "port",   "value": "8080"},
    {"name": "status", "value": "up"},
    {"name": "source", "value": "declared"}
  ]
}

For the overview and doctor to show anything, add the relevant blocks to your repo's pyproject.toml:

[tool.auntiepypi]
packages = ["requests", "pip"]
scan_processes = false             # opt into /proc scan; same as `--proc`

[[tool.auntiepypi.servers]]
name = "main"
flavor = "pypiserver"
port = 8080
managed_by = "systemd-user"
unit = "pypi-server.service"

# v0.7.0: HTTPS + Basic auth on the first-party server.
# Loopback host (127.0.0.1, ::1, localhost) is always allowed.
# Non-loopback host requires BOTH cert+key AND htpasswd.
# v0.8.0: publish_users gates the POST upload endpoint; empty list
# preserves read-only mode. max_upload_bytes caps per-request body.
[tool.auntiepypi.local]
host = "0.0.0.0"
cert = "/etc/ssl/private/auntie.pem"
key  = "/etc/ssl/private/auntie.key"
htpasswd = "/etc/auntie/htpasswd"      # bcrypt-only; populate via `htpasswd -B`
publish_users = ["alice", "bob"]       # v0.8.0: who can POST uploads
max_upload_bytes = 104857600           # v0.8.0: 100 MiB default

Publishing a wheel (v0.8.0)

# Operator: configure auth + publish_users (above), then start the server.
auntie up

# Publisher: build a wheel and upload via auntie's CLI.
uv build
AUNTIE_PUBLISH_USER=alice AUNTIE_PUBLISH_PASSWORD=secret \
  auntie publish dist/mypkg-1.0-py3-none-any.whl
# expect: "published mypkg-1.0-py3-none-any.whl → /files/..."

# Or via twine — the server speaks the legacy PyPI upload protocol.
TWINE_USERNAME=alice TWINE_PASSWORD=secret \
  twine upload --repository-url https://0.0.0.0:3141/ dist/*.whl

Self-signed certs need AUNTIE_INSECURE_SKIP_VERIFY=1 (loud stderr warning fires on each invocation). Existing-file uploads return 409 (no overwrite, ever — pick a new version).

pip + Basic auth note. pip install --index-url https://user:pass@host:port/simple/ works but embeds creds in URL, leaking them in process listings and pip's debug output. keyring integration is the long-term answer; in the meantime, an environment- scoped per-user pip.conf (path resolves via python -m pip config debug) reduces exposure.

auntie doctor walkthrough

auntie doctor classifies every known server into one of four categories and explains exactly what to do next:

$ auntie doctor
# auntie doctor
summary: 1 actionable, 1 half-supervised, 1 skip, 0 ambiguous (3 total)

  main          down     declared    managed_by=command
      diagnosis: down; would dispatch managed_by='command'
      remediation: auntie doctor --apply

  stale         down     declared    managed_by=systemd-user
      config_gap: managed_by="systemd-user" requires `unit`
      diagnosis: half-supervised; --apply would delete this entry
      remediation: add `unit = "…"` to keep supervision, or run `auntie doctor --apply`

  pypiserver:8080  up    port        observed; not declared
      remediation:
          [[tool.auntiepypi.servers]]
          name = "…"
          flavor = "pypiserver"
          port = 8080
          managed_by = "manual"

(dry-run; pass --apply to act on 2 remediations)

Pass --apply to act. A numbered snapshot is written before any edit:

$ auntie doctor --apply
wrote pyproject.toml.1.bak (rollback: mv pyproject.toml.1.bak pyproject.toml)
...

If two entries share the same name, use --decide to choose which to keep (or remove):

$ auntie doctor --apply --decide=duplicate:main=1
wrote pyproject.toml.1.bak (rollback: mv pyproject.toml.1.bak pyproject.toml)
wrote pyproject.toml: removed [[tool.auntiepypi.servers]] entry 'main' occurrence 1 (lines 7-12)
...

See docs/about.md for the longer non-technical explainer. systemd-user unit templates for pypiserver / devpi-server live in docs/deploy/.

Develop

uv sync                          # install + dev deps
uv run pytest -n auto -v         # tests
uv run auntie --version          # smoke
uv run pre-commit install        # enable lint hooks

Quality pipeline mirrors the rest of the AgentCulture mesh: black, isort, flake8 (+ flake8-bandit, flake8-bugbear), pylint, bandit, markdownlint-cli2. CI runs on every PR + push to main.

Trusted Publishing

ghafi provisions the pypi / testpypi GitHub Environments and .github/workflows/publish.yml follows the same OIDC Trusted Publishing pattern every sibling uses — no secrets in the repo.

License

MIT. © 2026 Ori Nachum / AgentCulture.

— Claude