shtab
What: Automatically generate shell tab completion scripts for Python CLI apps
Why: Speed & correctness. Alternatives like argcomplete and pyzshcomplete are slow and have side-effects
How: shtab processes an argparse.ArgumentParser object to generate a tab completion script for your shell
Features
Outputs tab completion scripts for multiple shells
bash, zsh, fish, tcsh, powershell
Supports
<arguments>, --options and sub commands
Choices (--say={hello,goodbye})
Paths (--file={*.y*ml,*.toml}, --dir=*/)
Dynamic shell commands (--branch=$(git branch))
Installation
Choose one of:
pip install shtab, or
conda install -c conda-forge shtab
Usage
There are two ways of using shtab:
CLI Usage: shtab’s own CLI interface for external applications
may not require any code modifications whatsoever
end-users execute shtab your_cli_app.your_parser_object
Library Usage: as a library integrated into your CLI application
adds a couple of lines to your application
argument mode: end-users execute your_cli_app --print-completion {bash,zsh,tcsh,fish,powershell}
subparser mode: end-users execute your_cli_app completion {bash,zsh,tcsh,fish,powershell}
Examples
FAQs
Not working? Check out frequently asked questions.
Alternatives
All these execute the underlying script every time <TAB> is pressed (slow and have side-effects):
pyzshcomplete (only provides zsh completion)
click (don’t want to migrate away from click? Use shtab’s one-liner click integration in the CLI or in a library)
Contributions
Please do open issues & pull requests! Some ideas:
support python -m prefix (#55)
See CONTRIBUTING.md for more guidance.
4 maintainers
Metadata
4 maintainers
Release files for shtab 1.13.0
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Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | Provenance | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shtab-1.13.0.tar.gz | 67.7 kB | With provenance | Details for shtab-1.13.0.tar.gz |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Actions Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| shtab-1.13.0-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details for shtab-1.13.0-py3-none-any.whl |
Total release size: 90.5 kB
Release files / shtab-1.13.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | shtab-1.13.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 67.7 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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| Download URL | shtab-1.13.0-py3-none-any.whl |
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| Size | 22.9 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
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SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums |
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Yes |
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twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.15.0
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Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Oct 21, 2026.
Transparency logSecurity for shtab 1.13.0
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Signed by GitHub Actions, verified by PyPI on Oct 21, 2026.
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