gencodo-py

Generate CLI reference documentation from argparse-based applications using Jinja2 templates.

Installation

pip install gencodo-py

Quick Start

Define your CLI commands as plain Python classes (no base class required):

import argparse

class GreetCommand:
    name = "greet"
    help_msg = "Greet a specific person"
    overview = "Personalize your greeting by specifying a name."
    hidden = False
    examples = [("Greet Alice", "myapp greet Alice")]
    related_commands = None

    def fill_parser(self, parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
        parser.add_argument("name", help="Name to greet")
        parser.add_argument("--formal", action="store_true", default=False,
                            help="Use formal style")

Generate documentation:

from gencodo import CommandGroup, gen_docs_tree, get_bundled_templates

groups = [CommandGroup(name="Greetings", commands=[GreetCommand])]
templates = get_bundled_templates("md")  # or "rst"

gen_docs_tree(
    appname="myapp",
    command_groups=groups,
    output_dir="docs/cli-ref",
    templates=templates,
)

API Reference

Types

• Command -- Protocol that any CLI command class must satisfy (structural subtyping).
• CommandGroup -- NamedTuple grouping commands under a name.
• ExampleInfo -- Dataclass for a usage example (info, usage).
• FlagInfo -- Dataclass for a CLI flag (name, usage, default_value).
• TemplateInfo -- Dataclass for Jinja2 template configuration.

Functions

• gen_docs(command_class, writer, template, appname, command_groups) -- Render docs for a single command to a TextIO writer.
• gen_docs_tree(appname, command_groups, output_dir, templates, ...) -- Generate a full documentation tree (one file per command + index).
• get_bundled_templates(format="rst", index_file_name=None) -- Load bundled reST or Markdown templates.

Command Protocol

Your command classes need these attributes/methods:

Attribute	Type	Description
name	str	Command name
help_msg	str	Short help string
overview	str	Longer description
hidden	bool	Exclude from docs if True
examples	list[tuple[str, str]]	(description, command) pairs
related_commands	list[str] | None	Explicit related commands, or None to auto-infer
fill_parser(parser)	method	Add arguments to an ArgumentParser

Template Customization

Bundled Templates

Use get_bundled_templates("rst") or get_bundled_templates("md") for the built-in templates.

Custom Templates

Pass your own Jinja2 template strings via TemplateInfo:

from gencodo import TemplateInfo

templates = TemplateInfo(
    index_file_name="index.md",
    index_template="# Commands\n{% for f in files %}...\n{% endfor %}",
    command_template="# {{ command_name }}\n{{ short }}\n...",
)

Available template variables for command templates:

Variable	Type	Description
ref	str	Anchor reference (underscored name)
command_name	str	Command name
short	str	Short help message
long	str	Overview text
synopsis	str	Usage synopsis
examples	list[ExampleInfo]	Usage examples
flags	list[FlagInfo]	Optional flags
related_commands	list[str]	Related command names
heading_len	int	Length of command name
appname	str	Application name

Custom Jinja2 filters available: indent(width), repeat(n).

License

LGPL-3.0-only