The Modern Command-Line Tool Stack: Pipenv, Click, and Friends

Matt Behrens

I've been a Python developer since 2001, and when I sit down to make a new command-line Python tool, I often write them like it's still early last decade. Late last year, I built a new command-line program that has proven to be reasonably popular, but I found that getting my tool up and running cleanly, with predictable dependencies, was a problem.

Early this year, I decided to modernize this particular project, simplifying it so that anyone could get set up with exactly the same dependencies I had, and improving the user experience by making the tool a modern one.

This talk will cover how I use Pipenv to modernize the experience of using my tool after cloning it from GitHub, transparently setting up a virtualenv in one command without reconfiguring their working environment.

I'll also talk about libraries I now use to build the app, including Click, and a number of other things both in and out of the standard library that give the tool a modern command-line UX and make it a good citizen of the OS.

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