Python CLI Bootstrap

A small reference project that demonstrates a Click-based Python CLI with a simple plugin-style command discovery mechanism and modern tooling.

Features

• CLI framework: Click
• Dynamic command loading: commands are discovered from the src/cli/commands/ tree and loaded lazily at runtime
• Package management: uv for fast dependency management
• Code quality: Ruff (lint + format) and Pyright (type checking)
• Testing: pytest (with coverage support)
• Security: pip-audit and bandit
• Automation: a Makefile with common tasks

Quick start

Prerequisites

Install uv.

Setup

Create / sync the project environment (this installs the project in editable mode, including the mycli console script):

make setup

Run the CLI

uv run mycli --help
uv run mycli compute add 1 2
uv run mycli net ping 1.1.1.1 --count 1

Notes:

• If you skip make setup, you can run uv sync --locked --all-extras --dev directly.
• To install explicitly (editable) and see post-install hints, run make install.
• The Python-module equivalent of mycli --help is: uv run python -m cli.main --help.

Commands

This repository includes example commands:

• compute add <a> <b>
• compute sub <a> <b>
• net ping <host> [--count N]

Plugin contract (command discovery)

Commands are discovered from:

src/cli/commands/<...nested command path...>/

Each plugin directory must contain:

• entry.py (required): exports cli, a click.Command (typically created with @click.command())
• meta.yaml (required): a YAML mapping containing a non-empty short_help string

Supported meta.yaml keys:

• short_help (required)
• help_group (optional, default: Commands)
• enabled (optional, default: true)
• hidden (optional, default: false; forced to true when enabled: false)
• packaged (optional; used for packaging workflows)
• no_args_is_help (optional, default: false)

Compatibility note: legacy aliases (shortHelp, HelpSummary, HelpGroup) are still accepted by the loader.

At runtime, the root command lists available command groups and loads subcommands only when invoked.

Dot-prefixed and __-prefixed directories are ignored during command discovery.

Developer utility: create a new command skeleton

uv run mycli admin new-command mul --short-help "Multiply two integers."
uv run mycli admin new-command mul --parent compute --short-help "Multiply two integers."
uv run mycli admin new-command issue --parent github.repo --short-help "Manage repository issues."

--parent uses dot-notation to create nested command paths (github.repo => github/repo). Any missing parent groups are scaffolded automatically.

If you want to generate plugins into a different directory during development, set:

• <ENV_PREFIX>COMMANDS_DIR (used by the admin new-command helper)
• <ENV_PREFIX>REBRAND_PROJECT_ROOT (used by the admin rebrand helper)

The environment variable prefix is configurable in pyproject.toml:

[tool.mycli]
env_prefix = "mycli_"
name = "mycli"
cli_name = "mycli"

With the default prefix this resolves to mycli_COMMANDS_DIR.

• name: branded display name used in CLI metadata output (for example, banner/version text)
• cli_name: command name used as the CLI program name

With the default prefix, supported override variables are:

• mycli_COMMANDS_DIR
• mycli_REBRAND_PROJECT_ROOT

Development tasks

make format
make lint
make test
make coverage
make scan

Environment configuration

The Makefile supports environment-specific configuration via .env files:

• .env (base)
• .env.local (local overrides, gitignored)
• .env.$(ENV) (environment-specific; e.g. .env.dev, .env.prod)

Example:

ENV=prod make lint

Project structure

.
├── src/
│   └── cli/
│       ├── commands/           # Dynamic command plugins
│       ├── dev.py              # Developer utilities ("mycli dev …")
│       ├── loader.py           # Command discovery + lazy loader
│       └── main.py             # Console entry point
├── tests/
├── pyproject.toml
├── Makefile
└── README.md

License

MIT