python-snacks

A personal CLI tool for managing a local stash of reusable Python code snippets. Browse, copy, and curate snippets across projects with a single command.

pipx install python-snacks
snack stash create default ~/snack-stash
snack unpack auth/google_oauth.py

Installation

Recommended (pipx):

pipx install python-snacks

Alternative (pip):

pip install python-snacks

Requires Python 3.10+.

Updating:

pipx upgrade python-snacks   # if installed with pipx
pip install --upgrade python-snacks  # if installed with pip

Configuration

First-time setup

Create a stash directory and register it:

snack stash create default ~/snack-stash

This creates ~/snack-stash, writes ~/.snackstashrc, and sets default as the active stash.

Environment variable (overrides config file)

export SNACK_STASH=~/snack-stash

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc to make it permanent. Takes priority over everything else.

Config file (~/.snackstashrc)

Created automatically by snack stash create. You can also edit it by hand:

[config]
active = default

[stash.default]
path = ~/snack-stash

[stash.work]
path = ~/work-stash

Priority order: SNACK_STASH env var → ~/.snackstashrc active stash → error.

Stash structure

A stash is a plain directory of .py files, organized into subdirectories by category:

~/snack-stash/
├── auth/
│   ├── google_oauth_fastapi.py
│   ├── google_oauth_flask.py
│   └── jwt_helpers.py
├── forms/
│   ├── contact_form.py
│   └── newsletter_signup.py
└── email/
    └── smtp_sender.py

You can manage the directory with Git, Dropbox, or any sync tool independently of this CLI.

Commands

snack list [category]

List all snippets in the active stash.

snack list           # all snippets
snack list auth      # filtered by category (subdirectory)

snack search <keyword>

Search snippet filenames for a keyword (case-insensitive).

snack search oauth
# auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py
# auth/google_oauth_flask.py

snack unpack <snippet>

Copy a snippet from the stash into the current working directory.

snack unpack auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py
# → ./auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py

snack unpack auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py --flat
# → ./google_oauth_fastapi.py  (no subdirectory)

snack unpack auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py --force
# Overwrites without prompting

snack pack <snippet>

Copy a file from the current directory back into the stash. Use this when you've improved a snippet on a project and want to update the canonical version.

snack pack auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py
snack pack auth/google_oauth_fastapi.py --force

Stash management

snack stash create <name> <path>

Register a new named stash. Creates the directory if it doesn't exist.

snack stash create default ~/snack-stash
snack stash create work ~/work-stash --no-activate

The first stash created is automatically set as active. Use --no-activate to add a stash without switching to it.

snack stash list

Show all configured stashes and which one is active.

snack stash list
#   default  /Users/you/snack-stash  ← active
#   work     /Users/you/work-stash

snack stash move <name> <new-path>

Move a stash to a new location. Moves the directory on disk and updates the config.

snack stash move default ~/new-location/snack-stash

snack stash add-remote <repo>

Copy Python snippets from a public GitHub repository into the active stash. Downloads the repo as a tarball and copies all .py files, preserving directory structure.

snack stash add-remote owner/repo
snack stash add-remote https://github.com/owner/repo
snack stash add-remote owner/repo --subdir auth   # only copy files under auth/
snack stash add-remote owner/repo --force         # overwrite without prompting

Error handling

Project structure

python-snacks/
├── pyproject.toml
├── snacks/
│   ├── main.py      # Typer app, all command definitions
│   ├── config.py    # SnackConfig class, stash path resolution
│   └── ops.py       # File copy logic (pack, unpack, add_remote)
└── tests/
    ├── test_commands.py        # snippet commands
    └── test_stash_commands.py  # stash management commands

CI / CD

• CI: Tests run on every push and PR to main across Python 3.10, 3.11, and 3.12.
• Publish: Push a v* tag to trigger a build, PyPI publish, and GitHub Release.

git tag v0.2.0 && git push origin v0.2.0