update-kit

Self-update for Python CLIs that are released as git tags (vX.Y.Z or X.Y.Z) and installed with uv tool or pipx. Stdlib only, Python ≥ 3.10, macOS / Linux / Windows.

• <cmd> update installs the newest release tag — no prompts, ever.
• A cached background check prints a one-line hint on an interactive terminal only.
• Every message exists in English and Traditional Chinese (zh-TW).

Install

# consumer pyproject.toml
dependencies = ["update-kit>=0.1,<0.2"]

Wiring a consumer CLI

import sys

import update_kit

from my_cli import __version__

APP, REPO, DIST = "my-cli", "owner/my-cli", "my-cli"


def main(argv=None):
    argv = sys.argv[1:] if argv is None else argv
    lang = "zh-TW"  # the app's own current language setting

    # `my-cli update` and `my-cli --update`
    if argv[:1] == ["update"] or "--update" in argv:
        sys.exit(update_kit.update(
            app=APP, repo=REPO, dist=DIST, lang=lang,
            after=[["my-cli", "migrate"]],  # optional: runs with the NEW binary
        ))

    # Background hint: stderr, TTY only (never under launchd/timers/--json/pipes).
    if update_kit.should_hint():
        latest = update_kit.check(repo=REPO, current=__version__)
        if latest:
            print(update_kit.hint("my-cli", latest, __version__, lang), file=sys.stderr)
    ...

API

Install commands used by update:

• uv: uv tool install --force --no-sources git+<url>@<tag>
• pipx: pipx install --force git+<url>@<tag>

<url> is url=, else $UPDATE_KIT_REPO_URL, else https://github.com/<repo>.git (file:// works, which is how the tests run without a network). Only https://, ssh://, file:// and git@host:path are accepted (ssh://git@host/... is fine, ssh://user:pass@ is not; git@host:path is installed as ssh://git@host/path); a leading -, whitespace/control characters, ext:: or credentials in the URL (user:pass@) raise UpdateError (update returns 1, check returns None). When $UPDATE_KIT_REPO_URL is in effect, update prints one line naming it. git ls-remote runs as git -c protocol.ext.allow=never ls-remote --tags --refs -- <url> from the home directory, and so does the install; git's stderr is stripped of control characters.

Windows: the running .exe is locked, so update starts the install (and the after steps, chained with &&) in a detached cmd.exe that waits a few seconds for the app to exit, returns 0 and says the update continues in the background. Output goes to %USERPROFILE%\.update-kit\<app>-update.log. Unlike POSIX (where every after-step runs and any failure makes the result 1), the Windows chain stops at the first failing step and the outcome is only in the log. An install whose arguments or log path contain a cmd.exe metacharacter (& | < > ^ % " ( ) !) is refused with exit 1 instead of being spawned.

git ls-remote never prompts: GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0, and GIT_SSH_COMMAND defaults to ssh -o BatchMode=yes when unset. The install step (uv / pipx) also runs with GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 and GCM_INTERACTIVE=never.

Development

uv sync
uv run pytest
uv run ruff check .
uv build

License

MIT