lazy-inspect-offline

lazy-inspect-offline searches functions and classes in Python modules installed in the current environment. It does not make network requests or require third-party runtime dependencies.

The distribution name uses hyphens; its Python import name is lazy_inspect_offline.

Python compatibility

Version 0.1.1 supports Python 3.8 and newer. Unit tests, docstring examples, and CLI execution were checked on Python 3.8.20, 3.9.20, 3.10.15, 3.11.5, 3.12.3, and 3.13.15. Python 3.7 was not runtime-tested and is not declared supported; Python 3.6 cannot import the future annotations used by this package. Python 3.8 and 3.9 are upstream end-of-life versions; compatibility is provided for existing internal environments.

There are no third-party runtime dependencies. setuptools>=68 is a build-time requirement only, supporting the current pyproject.toml configuration and editable installs. Pip selects a setuptools release compatible with the build interpreter. Installing the prebuilt wheel offline does not require setuptools. Search results depend on the version of the library being inspected.

Install

Install from a wheel or source archive available on the offline machine:

python -m pip install --no-index lazy_inspect_offline-0.1.1-py3-none-any.whl

From this directory (the one containing pyproject.toml), build a wheel and source archive on a connected build machine:

python -m pip install --upgrade build
python -m build

Copy the wheel to the offline machine and install it there. The modules being searched must also be installed locally.

Python API

from lazy_inspect_offline import (
    find_location,
    search_class,
    search_function,
)

search_function("os", "join")
# ['os.path.join']

search_class("datetime", "timezone")
# ['datetime.timezone']

find_location("datetime.timezone")
# path to the file backing the defining module (e.g. /home/user/anaconda3/lib/python3.11/datetime.py)

search_function('pandas', ['dataframe', 'fill'], exclude_keywords='na')
# ['pandas.DataFrame.bfill',
#  'pandas.DataFrame.ffill',
#  'pandas.api.typing.DataFrameGroupBy.bfill',
#  'pandas.api.typing.DataFrameGroupBy.ffill']

import pydoc
pydoc.help("os.path.join")

Pass a fully qualified search result to pydoc.help() to inspect the function's documentation without an internet connection. For example, after finding os.path.join, simply call pydoc.help("os.path.join") to view its description and usage. For the pandas example, pass one of the returned names in the same way; pandas must be installed in the current environment.

keywords and exclude_keywords each accept one string or a sequence of strings. All search keywords must appear in the qualified name. A match is excluded if its name contains any excluded keyword. Matching is case-insensitive by default; set lower=False to make it case-sensitive. Names beginning with _ are skipped.

find_location("datetime.timezone") returns the absolute path of the file backing that object's defining module. This may be a Python file, extension binary, or bytecode file; it does not locate the implementation or a source line. It raises LookupError for an unresolved qualified name and OSError if the defining module has no existing local file (for example, builtins.str).

The search imports the requested module, so use trusted, locally installed modules. It searches public attributes exposed after import, descending into module-tree submodules and classes; unexposed submodules are not automatically imported. Each module/class is traversed once, so descendant aliases may be omitted; it does not build a persistent documentation index or search source code that is not importable in the current environment.

Command line

lazy-inspect-offline functions os join
lazy-inspect-offline classes datetime timezone
lazy-inspect-offline functions pandas dataframe fill --exclude na
lazy-inspect-offline location pandas.DataFrame.bfill

Repeated --exclude options are supported. Searches are case-insensitive by default; for case-sensitive matching, use lazy-inspect-offline functions pandas DataFrame fill --exclude na --case-sensitive.

location prints the absolute path of the defining module file, using the same behavior as find_location(). It exits with status 1 if the name cannot be resolved or its module file is unavailable. Pandas must be installed to run the pandas examples.

Package layout and development

This directory is the standalone packaging project, following the PyPA packaging tutorial. Notebooks and comparison materials in the parent directory are not part of it.

lazy-inspect-offline/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
├── src/
│   └── lazy_inspect_offline/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── __main__.py
│       ├── cli.py
│       └── search.py
└── tests/
    ├── test_cli.py
    └── test_search.py

python -m pip install -e .
python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
python -m pydoc lazy_inspect_offline.search_function
python -m pydoc lazy_inspect_offline.search_class
python -m pydoc lazy_inspect_offline.find_location

After building, dist/ contains the wheel (.whl) and source archive (.tar.gz). These are the files to distribute or upload to your package index. To validate their package metadata and README rendering:

python -m pip install --upgrade twine
python -m twine check dist/*

No license has been selected for this project. Once the owner chooses terms, add LICENSE here and the corresponding project.license and project.license-files metadata to pyproject.toml before release.