python-click-autocomplete-example

This is an example on how to set up shell autocompletion for your Python scripts reading input via click, especially when working on a Python package using Poetry.

Requirements

To test this example you will need:

• Python v3.8+
• Poetry

Usage

Set up the example's environment and enter it with:

git clone https://github.com/ggirelli/python-click-autocomplete-example.git
cd python-click-autocomplete-example
poetry install
poetry shell

This example package provides you with two scripts:

• clicko is a placeholder mimicking a normal script with subcommands and commands.
• clicko-autocomplete can be used to enable autocompletion for the clicko script.

Currently, autocompletion is supported for bash, fish, and zsh. To activate it, simply run:

clicko-autocomplete -s SHELL_TYPE

The default SHELL_TYPE is bash.

Now, you should be able to test autocompletion by typing clicko <TAB> <TAB>.

How does it work

The clicko-autocomplete script is able to generate and install shell autocompletion configuration files, stored by default in the autocomplete subfolder of this package. This is done by exploiting the in-built autocompletion tools served by click.

When installing the autocompletion configuration files for bash or zsh, the clicko-autocomplete script is able to check if the config files were already installed, and avoid re-installation.

To read more on autocompletion with click, check out their documentation.