Beeminder Client

A powerful Python client library and terminal interface for Beeminder. This package provides both a programmatic API client for building Beeminder applications and a feature-rich terminal interface for managing your Beeminder goals directly from the command line.

Features

• Complete API Coverage: Full implementation of the Beeminder API with type hints
• Interactive Terminal Interface: Curses-based UI for managing goals and datapoints
• Type-Safe: Built with Pydantic models for reliable data handling
• Easy to Use: Simple interface for both programmatic and terminal usage

Installation

Install from PyPI:

pip install beeminder_client

Configuration

The client requires a Beeminder API key and optionally your username. These can be set via environment variables:

export BEEMINDER_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
export BEEMINDER_USERNAME="your-username"  # Optional

To get your API key:

1. Log into Beeminder
2. Go to https://www.beeminder.com/api/v1/auth_token.json

Using the Terminal Interface

Start the terminal interface:

beeminder-cli

Terminal Controls

• Navigation:
  • ↑/↓: Navigate through goals
  • i: View detailed information for selected goal
  • b: Go back to goal list from detail view
  • r: Refresh goal data
  • c: Create new datapoint for selected goal
  • w: Open goal in web browser
  • q: Quit application

Adding Datapoints

1. Select a goal using arrow keys
2. Press c to create new datapoint
3. Enter value when prompted
4. Optionally add a comment
5. Press Enter to submit

Using the API Client

from beeminder_client.beeminder import BeeminderAPI

# Initialize client
client = BeeminderAPI(api_key="your-api-key", default_user="username")

# Get all goals
goals = client.get_all_goals()

# Get specific goal with datapoints
goal = client.get_goal("goal-slug", datapoints=True)

# Create datapoint
client.create_datapoint(
  goal_slug="goal-slug",
  value=1.0,
  comment="Added via API"
)

Program Design

The project is structured into three main components:

1. API Client (beeminder.py)

• Handles all HTTP communication with Beeminder's API
• Provides type-safe methods for all API endpoints
• Uses requests for HTTP operations
• Implements error handling and response validation

2. Data Models (models.py)

• Pydantic models for type safety and validation
• Represents Beeminder entities (Goals, Datapoints, etc.)
• Handles data parsing and serialization
• Provides clear structure for API responses

3. Terminal Interface (beeminder_cli.py)

• Built with Python's curses library
• Implements Model-View pattern:
  • BeeminderCLI: Main controller class
  • InputWindow: Helper class for user input
• Features:
  • Two-panel interface (list and detail views)
  • Efficient navigation and data entry
  • Real-time updates and feedback
  • Browser integration

Architecture Decisions

1. Type Safety: Using Pydantic models ensures reliable data handling and provides excellent IDE support.
2. Separation of Concerns: Clear separation between API client, data models, and UI.
3. Error Handling: Comprehensive error handling in both API and UI layers.
4. User Experience: Terminal interface designed for efficiency and ease of use.
5. Extensibility: Easy to extend with new features or integrate into other applications.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

• Built using the Beeminder API
• Inspired by the need for a better command-line interface for Beeminder