This release is a pre-release and may not be stable for production use.
shell-use (Python)
Python bindings for shell-use; a terminal automation, inspection, assertion, and recording engine written in Rust.
Install
pip install shell-use
Requires Python 3.8+. Wheels are published for common platforms via maturin
Quick start
import asyncio
from shell_use import ShellUse
async def main():
async with ShellUse() as su:
await su.open()
await su.submit("echo hello")
await su.wait_command()
await su.expect_text("hello")
await su.expect_exit_code(0)
asyncio.run(main())
Drive a full-screen TUI:
async with ShellUse("vim-session") as su:
await su.run("vim", "file.txt")
await su.wait_idle()
await su.press("i")
await su.type("some text")
await su.press("Escape", ":", "w", "q", "Enter")
await su.wait_exit()
Errors
Every failure maps to one of the engine's error kinds:
| Exception | Exit code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
ExpectationError |
1 | an expect/wait condition was not met |
UsageError |
2 | invalid argument (e.g. a bad regex) |
NoSessionError |
3 | no active session |
InternalError |
5 | internal engine error |
All derive from ShellUseError. wait_* and expect_* raise ExpectationError on failure. Assertion errors include the current visible terminal content.
API
ShellUse(session="default", *, timeouts=None, artifacts=None) mirrors the cli: open / run, type / write, submit, press / keys, mouse.click|move|down|up|drag|scroll, resize, signal / kill, state, text, cells, get_command / get_output / get_exit_code / get_cwd / get_cursor / get_size, screenshot, wait_text / wait_idle / wait_command / wait_exit / wait_ready, expect_text / expect_exit_code / expect_output / expect_snapshot, close, and close_quiet.
Module-level helpers: sessions(), close_all(), get_recording(), unique_session().
open() and run() accept wait_ready=, retries=, and timeouts=. The timeout classes are text, idle, command, exit, and ready; timeouts= sets session defaults, the constructor takes the same Timeouts (or a dict) as a client-wide default. Unknown class names raise.
ShellUse.ephemeral(prefix=None, **kwargs) binds a client to a unique,
process-local session name. artifacts={"dir": ..., "on_failure": ...}
attaches the terminal contents to an ExpectationError.
shell_use.testing has helpers for terminal tests: create_terminal, terminal (an async context manager), close_all_tracked, DEFAULT_SHELL, and terminal_snapshot.
from shell_use.testing import terminal
async def test_echo():
async with terminal() as t:
await t.submit("echo hi")
await t.wait_command()
await t.expect_text("hi")
Each terminal is uniquely named, so parallel workers don't collide. set_terminal_defaults(...) sets suite-wide options (timeouts, artifacts, ...).
Cancellation and recordings
Cancelling a task does not cancel the underlying Rust operation. Operations for single sessoins wait for completion (ex: close(), close_all()).
Closing a session removes it from sessions(), but keeps its recording. get_recording() can read that recording for the rest of the process. The 1024 most recently closed sessions have their recordings retained.
Configuration
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
SHELL_USE_SESSION |
default session name |
SHELL_USE_TIMEOUT_<CLASS>_MS |
fallback timeout for one class (TEXT, IDLE, COMMAND, EXIT, READY) |
1 maintainer
Metadata
1 maintainer
Release files for shell-use 0.0.1b6
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| File | Size | Uploaded | Provenance | Actions |
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| shell_use-0.0.1b6.tar.gz | 1.7 MB | With provenance | Details for shell_use-0.0.1b6.tar.gz |
Built distributions (wheels)
Total release size: 28.0 MB
Release files / shell_use-0.0.1b6.tar.gz
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| Tags | Source |
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