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Funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association in the framework of the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration

Use click for CLI commands

Use click for CLI commands

  • Status: accepted

  • Deciders: led02, sdruskat

  • Date: 2022-03-24

Context and Problem Statement

We have the choice between pure Python argparse implementation of CLI commands, setuptools with the command package and third-party libraries, such as click or typer.

Decision Drivers

  • Be able to use features such as entrypoints

  • Leverage advanced features such as help creation, subcommands and command classes

  • Small dependency footprint

Considered Options

  • argparse

  • click

  • typer

Decision Outcome

Chosen option: “click”, because provides advanced features without adding too many dependencies

Positive Consequences

  • Lots of docs available

  • Has advanced features

Negative Consequences

  • Devs need to get acquainted with the library

Pros and Cons of the Options

argparse

Pure Python argparse implementation

  • Good, because No further dependencies needed

  • Bad, because Verbose

  • Bad, because Boilerplate needed

click

Use the click library to implement CLI

  • Good, because Provides sought-after features

  • Good, because Colourful output

  • Good, because Go-to solution for Python CLIs

  • Bad, because Adds dependencies (itself and colorama)

typer

Wraps click to make it even simpler to write CLIs

  • Good, because Adds shell auto-completion

  • Bad, because Unclear what it adds over click apart form auto-completion

  • Bad, because Adds yet another dependency

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