better-trace 0.3.0

A colorful, context-rich traceback formatter for Python

Better-trace

A Python tool to make tracebacks colorful, context-rich, developer-friendly, and visually easier to read

Features

• A colorful traceback powered by rich
• Multiple modes
  • Verbose - Gives you all the information
  • Context - A balanced view of the traceback (Recommended)
  • Compact - Shows only the last 3 frames, good for quick debugging
  • Minimal - Shows only the last frame, containing the essentials to quickly debug, not for advanced debugging
• Smart suggestions for NameError
• Context view (shows the surrounding lines; only for verbose and context mode)
• ExceptionGroup support
• Thread + Unraisable hooks
• Optional logging to file
• Built-in post mortem debugger (pdb)

Installation

Type this command to your shell:

python3 -m pip install better-trace

Note: Requires python >= 3.11; python3 may not work on windows, so use python or py

Installation for contributors

Clone the better-trace github repo and install better-trace (in editable mode)

git clone https://github.com/8er8/better-trace.git
cd better-trace
python3 -m pip install -e .

Quick example

from better_trace import initialize

initialize()

# a crash
1 / 0

Configuration

initialize(
    show_locals=True,
    log_exceptions=False,
    debugger=False,
    mode="verbose",
    theme="monokai",
    background_color="default",
)

Option	Type	Default	Description
show_locals	bool	True	Shows locals at crash site
log_exceptions	bool	False	Logs exceptions to crash.log
debugger	bool	False	Enables pdb post mortem debugging
mode	str	"verbose"	Output style (verbose, context, compact, minimal)
theme	str	"monokai"	The syntax highlighting theme
background_color	str	"default"	The background color

Mode preview

Verbose

full traceback + locals + context
Shows everything

Context

Balanced output with surrounding lines

Compact

Short and readable

Minimal

Just the last frame and the error line

Better-trace demo

from better_trace import demo

demo()

Reverting back

from better_trace import revert

revert()

Before and After

Before

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\python\Adamya\a.py", line 10, in <module>
    main()
  File "C:\python\Adamya\a.py", line 7, in main
    print(my_va)
NameError: name 'my_va' is not defined

After

Why better-trace?

Because the default python traceback is informative but is really ugly and sometimes hard to read.

But better-trace makes tracebacks easier to read by--

• Making tracebacks easier to read
• Giving more info
• Coloring and syntax higlighting powered by rich
• Four different modes
• And much more

Notes

• Optionally requires rich
• Works best in modern terminals
• Designed for developer experience (not beginner-oriented)

Credits

Main developer

Adamya Mondal - creator, designer, and maintainer of this project

Built with

• Python Standard Library
• rich (Huge credits to developers of rich)

Inspiration

Python's default traceback is really minimal
So we fixed it to make it more developer-friendly

Contributions

• Adamya Mondal (for being the main dev)
• Open for contributors

Note: Contributors who are willing to contribute better-trace should read the 'Installation for contributors' section

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license