typer-swissknife

typer-swissknife is a lightweight companion library for Typer that helps you build cleaner, more expressive CLI applications.

It focuses on a small set of practical helpers for common CLI patterns such as alias-aware commands, nested sub-apps, and richer help output.

Why use it

• Keep command registration simple and readable.
• Organize larger CLIs into smaller, reusable Typer components.
• Improve discoverability with optional visual help text.
• Stay close to Typer's native behavior while adding a bit more structure.

Features

• Alias-aware command decorators
• Nested Typer app registration
• Optional ASCII-enhanced help sections
• Simple integration into existing Typer projects

Installation

pip install typer-swissknife

Quick example

import typer
from typer_swissknife import add_typer, command

app = typer.Typer()
admin = typer.Typer()

@command(app, name="list", aliases=("ls",), ascii_name="List")
def list_items():
    """List all items."""
    print("Listing items...")

@command(admin, aliases=("rm",))
def remove(item: str):
    print(f"Removing {item}")

add_typer(
    app,
    admin,
    name="admin",
    ascii_name="Admin",
    aliases=("a",),
    help="Administrative commands",
)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app()

• list, ls, admin and a all work; the help lists them once as list (ls) and admin (a).
• ascii_name draws a banner at the top of that command's or group's --help page, while the commands list keeps the plain help text. Use ascii_font to pick any pyfiglet font (default: ansi_shadow).
• The banner is formatted for the app's rich_markup_mode ("rich", "markdown" or None).

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest

Tests run with branch coverage, and the run fails below 100%.

Project philosophy

This package is intentionally compact and focused. As the project grows, the goal is to keep the documentation high-level and feature-oriented rather than listing every helper in detail.

License

typer-swissknife is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3).