cliar 1.2.4

Create CLIs with classes and type hints.

Cliar

Cliar is yet another Python package to help you create commandline interfaces. It focuses on simplicity and extensibility:

• Creating a CLI is as simple as subclassing a Python class from cliar.Cliar.
• Extending a CLI is as simple as extending the class with inheritance.

Cliar's mission is to let you focus on the business logic instead of building an interface for it. At the same time, Cliar doesn't want to stand in your way, so it provides the means to customize the generated CLI.

Installation

$ pip install cliar

Cliar requires Python 3.6+ and was tested on Windows, Linux, and macOS. There are no dependencies outside Python's standard library.

Basic Usage

Let's create a commandline calculator that adds two real numbers:

from cliar import Cliar


class Calculator(Cliar):
'''Calculator app.'''

    def add(self, x: float, y: float):
    '''Add two real numbers.'''

        print(f'The sum of {x} and {y} is {x+y}.')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    Calculator().parse()

Save this code to calc.py and run it with different inputs:

• Valid input:

  $ python calc.py add 12 34
  The sum of 12.0 and 34.0 is 46.0.
  

• Invalid input:

  $ python calc.py add foo bar
  usage: calc.py add [-h] x y
  calc.py add: error: argument x: invalid float value: 'foo'
  

• Get help:

  $ python calc.py -h
  usage: calc.py [-h] {add} ...
  
  Calculator app.
  
  optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  
  commands:
  {add}       Available commands:
      add       Add two real numbers.
  

• Get help for a specific command:

  $ python calc.py add -h
  usage: calc.py add [-h] x y
  
  Add two real numbers.
  
  positional arguments:
  x
  y
  
  optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  

There are a few things to note here:

• It's a regular Python class with a regular Python method. You don't need to learn any new syntax to use Cliar.

• The add method is converted into add command, and its positional params are converted into positional commandline args.

• We don't convert x or y to float or handle any potential conversion errors in the add body. Instead, we treat x and y as if they were already guaranteed to be floats. That's because Cliar does the validation and conversion for us, using the information from add's type hints. Note how invalid input doesn't even reach your code.

• The --help and -h flags are added automatically and the help messages are generated from the docstrings.

Read Next

• Tutorial →
• Cliar vs. Click vs. docopt →