totalhelp 0.1.1

Print help for all commands and subcommands for argparse applications

totalhelp

An implementation of the totalhelp PEP.

This module provides monolithic help output for Python argparse applications, including those with deeply nested subcommands.

Usage

Works best with python tools that use Argparse.

totalhelp llm
totalhelp pipx

Caveats

• Help text is not a standard parsable format, so discovery of command names may fail.
• Can surface problems with applications that have slow startup.

Features

• Monolithic Help: Generate a single help document for your entire CLI, including all subcommands.
• Multiple Formats: Output to plain text, Markdown, or self-contained HTML.
• Drop-in Integration: Add a --totalhelp flag to your existing ArgumentParser with a single function call. No subclassing required.
• Optional rich support: If totalhelp[rich] is installed, get beautifully formatted terminal output.
• External Tool Inspection: A best-effort mode to generate help for third-party CLIs you don't control.
• InstallationInstall the base package: pip install .

To include optional rich formatting support:pip install .[rich]

Quick Start

Integrate it into your application in three steps.

1. Build your parser as usual.

# my_cli.py
import argparse


def create_parser():
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="A complex tool.")
    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", title="Available Commands")

    # Command 'remote'
    remote_parser = subparsers.add_parser("remote", help="Manage remotes")
    remote_subparsers = remote_parser.add_subparsers(dest="remote_command")
    remote_add_parser = remote_subparsers.add_parser("add", help="Add a remote")
    remote_add_parser.add_argument("name", help="Name of the remote")
    remote_add_parser.add_argument("url", help="URL of the remote")

    # Command 'log'
    log_parser = subparsers.add_parser("log", help="Show commit logs")
    log_parser.add_argument("--oneline", action="store_true", help="Show logs in a compact format")

    return parser

2. Add the --totalhelp flag.

# my_cli.py (continued)
import sys
import totalhelp

parser = create_parser()

# Add the flag. That's it.
totalhelp.add_totalhelp_flag(parser)

3. Check for the flag after parsing arguments.

# my_cli.py (continued)
if __name__ == "__main__":
    args = parser.parse_args()

    # If --totalhelp was passed, generate and print the doc, then exit.
    if getattr(args, "totalhelp", False):
        doc = totalhelp.full_help_from_parser(
            parser,
            fmt=getattr(args, "format", "text")
        )
        totalhelp.print_output(
            doc,
            fmt=getattr(args, "format", "text"),
            open_browser=getattr(args, "open", False)
        )
        sys.exit(0)

    # --- Your normal CLI logic goes here ---
    print(f"Normal execution with args: {args}")

Now you can run your app to see the monolithic help:

Get full help in the terminal

python my_cli.py --totalhelp

Generate a Markdown document

python my_cli.py --totalhelp --format md > DOCS.md

Generate and open an HTML file in your browser

python my_cli.py --totalhelp --format html --open