Python Application Boilerplate

Getting Started

This boilerplate uses Pipenv to manage dependencies and its virtual environment. You will need to install it if you do not already have it.

1. Install Project Dependencies

Use Pipenv to create a virtual environment and install the dependencies set in the Pipfile. Setting the --dev flag will include the (optional) development dependencies.

pipenv install --dev

2. Run Stuff, Do Stuff...

Understanding Pipenv Scripts

Scripts set within the Pipefile provide a convinient way to run shell commands. They allow you to define shortcuts for commonly-used commands, regardless of whether they need to be executed within a virtual environment or not. To run a script, you simply prefix it with pipenv run.

If this in your Pipefile (Look, it is!)

[scripts]
start = "pipenv run python -m my_app --text '1. Check it out!'"
clean = "rm -rf docs && rm -rf reports"

Then

• pipenv run start executes the command python -m my_app --text '1. Check it out!' within the virtual environment

• pipenv run clean executes the simple shell command rm -rf docs && rm -rf reports which doesn't require any virtual environment

Tooling

Installation and Package Management with Pipenv

Pipenv – A production-ready tool that aims to bring the best of all packaging worlds to the Python world. It harnesses Pipfile, pip, and virtualenv into one single command.

Install pipenv:

pip install --user pipenv

Linting with PyLint and Black

Pylint – Analyses your code without actually running it. It checks for errors, enforces a coding standard, looks for code smells, and can make suggestions about how the code could be refactored.

Install pylint:

pipenv install -d pylint

Black – Cedes control over minutiae of hand-formatting.

Installblack:

pipenv install -d black

Testing and Coverage with Pytest and Pytest-cov

Pytest – Framework that makes it easy to write small, readable tests, and can scale to support complex functional testing for applications and libraries.

Install pytest:

pipenv install -d pytest

Pytest-cov – Pytest plugin for measuring coverage.

Install pytest-cov:

pipenv install -d pytest-cov

Documentation with Pdoc3

Pdoc3 – Auto-generate API documentation for Python projects.

Install pdoc3:

pipenv install -d pdoc3

Command-Line Argument Parsing with Argparse

Argparse – Parser for command-line options, arguments and sub-commands.

Install argparse:

pipenv install argparse