python-clack

Beautiful CLI prompts for Python, inspired by clack.

Untitled.video.-.Made.with.Clipchamp.3.mp4

Installation

pip install python-clack

Or with uv:

uv add python-clack

Features

• Text input - Free-form text with placeholder, validation, and default values
• Select - Single selection from a list of options
• Multi-select - Multiple selection with checkboxes
• Confirm - Yes/No confirmation prompts
• Password - Masked password input
• Spinner - Animated loading indicator
• Log utilities - Styled info/success/warn/error messages
• Messages - Intro/outro banners

Try It Out

Run the interactive demo:

# With uv (recommended)
uv run python-clack-demo

# Or run examples directly
uv run python examples/basic.py

If installed globally via pip install python-clack:

python-clack-demo

Quick Start

from python_clack import intro, text, select, confirm, outro, is_cancel

intro("Welcome to my app")

name = text(
    "What is your name?",
    placeholder="Anonymous",
    validate=lambda v: "Name is required" if not v else None
)

if is_cancel(name):
    outro("Cancelled!")
    exit(1)

color = select(
    "Pick your favorite color",
    options=[
        {"value": "red", "label": "Red", "hint": "warm"},
        {"value": "green", "label": "Green"},
        {"value": "blue", "label": "Blue", "hint": "cool"},
    ]
)

confirmed = confirm("Continue?", initial_value=True)

outro("All done!")

API Reference

Prompts

text(message, **options) -> str | CANCEL

Text input prompt.

Options:

• placeholder - Placeholder text when empty
• default_value - Value if user submits empty
• initial_value - Starting value
• validate - Validation function (value) -> error_message | None

select(message, options, **kwargs) -> T | CANCEL

Single selection prompt.

Options:

• options - List of {"value": T, "label": str, "hint": str, "disabled": bool}
• initial_value - Initially selected value

multiselect(message, options, **kwargs) -> list[T] | CANCEL

Multiple selection prompt.

Options:

• options - List of option dicts
• initial_values - Initially selected values
• required - Require at least one selection

confirm(message, **options) -> bool | CANCEL

Yes/No confirmation prompt.

Options:

• active - Label for "yes" (default: "Yes")
• inactive - Label for "no" (default: "No")
• initial_value - Initial selection (default: False)

password(message, **options) -> str | CANCEL

Password input with masked characters.

Options:

• mask - Character to show (default: "*")
• validate - Validation function

Utilities

is_cancel(value) -> bool

Check if a prompt was cancelled.

result = text("Name?")
if is_cancel(result):
    print("User cancelled")

intro(title)

Display an intro banner.

outro(message)

Display an outro message.

cancel(message)

Display a cancellation message.

log

Log utilities with styled output.

from python_clack import log

log.info("Processing...")
log.success("Done!")
log.warn("Deprecation warning")
log.error("Something failed")
log.step("Step completed")

spinner()

Animated spinner for loading states.

from python_clack import spinner
import time

s = spinner()
s.start("Loading...")
time.sleep(2)
s.stop("Done!")

# Or with error/warn/cancel
s.error("Failed!")
s.warn("Warning!")
s.cancel("Cancelled!")

group(prompts, on_cancel=None)

Run multiple prompts sequentially.

from python_clack import group, text, confirm

results = group({
    "name": lambda _: text("Name?"),
    "email": lambda _: text("Email?"),
    "confirm": lambda r: confirm(f"Create {r['name']}?"),
})

Unicode Support

python-clack automatically detects terminal Unicode support:

• Uses Unicode symbols on modern terminals (Windows Terminal, VSCode, iTerm, etc.)
• Falls back to ASCII on legacy terminals

Force a specific mode with environment variable:

# Force Unicode
PYTHON_CLACK_UNICODE=1 python app.py

# Force ASCII
PYTHON_CLACK_UNICODE=0 python app.py

License

MIT