CLI format_help method support#759
Merged
hramezani merged 7 commits intopydantic:mainfrom Jan 27, 2026
Merged
Conversation
kschwab
commented
Jan 25, 2026
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Pull request overview
This PR adds support for format_help and print_help methods to the CliApp class, allowing users to programmatically display help messages for CLI applications without triggering argument parsing errors. This addresses issue #736, which requested a way to display help when no subcommand is specified, similar to argparse's print_help() functionality.
Changes:
- Added
CliApp.format_help()andCliApp.print_help()static methods to retrieve and display help messages for Pydantic models - Modified error handling in
run_subcommand()to automatically append help text when a required subcommand is missing - Refactored
BaseSettings.__init__()to split initialization into_settings_init_sources()and_settings_build_values()class methods to enable reuse of parsed CLI settings sources
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 11 comments.
Show a summary per file
| File | Description |
|---|---|
pydantic_settings/main.py |
Added format_help() and print_help() methods, introduced _subcommand_stack tracking, refactored settings initialization into two-phase process, added _build_sources parameter |
pydantic_settings/sources/providers/cli.py |
Added parser attribute to _CliArg, added format_help_method parameter to CLI source initialization, updated parser map type hints |
pydantic_settings/sources/base.py |
Added _suppress_errors parameter to get_subcommand() to enable error capture without raising |
tests/test_source_cli.py |
Added comprehensive tests for format_help() functionality and error message integration |
tests/test_settings.py |
Added @classmethod decorator to settings_customise_sources for consistency |
docs/index.md |
Added documentation section for the new print_help and format_help methods, updated parser customization docs |
Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)
pydantic_settings/sources/base.py:61
- The _suppress_errors parameter is an implementation detail that should be marked as private (with leading underscore) in the docstring or excluded from public documentation. However, it's missing from the docstring entirely, which could confuse users who inspect the function signature.
"""
Get the subcommand from a model.
Args:
model: The model to get the subcommand from.
is_required: Determines whether a model must have subcommand set and raises error if not
found. Defaults to `True`.
cli_exit_on_error: Determines whether this function exits with error if no subcommand is found.
Defaults to model_config `cli_exit_on_error` value if set. Otherwise, defaults to `True`.
Returns:
The subcommand model if found, otherwise `None`.
Raises:
SystemExit: When no subcommand is found and is_required=`True` and cli_exit_on_error=`True`
(the default).
SettingsError: When no subcommand is found and is_required=`True` and
cli_exit_on_error=`False`.
"""
💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.
Member
|
Thanks @kschwab for the PR. Copilot left some comments. Please address them if you think they make sense. |
hramezani
approved these changes
Jan 27, 2026
Member
|
Thanks @kschwab |
bradykieffer
added a commit
to bradykieffer/pydantic-settings
that referenced
this pull request
Mar 4, 2026
run_subcommand (added in pydantic#759) built the _parser_map lookup key using the kebab-cased subcommand_alias (e.g. "foo-bar"), but parser construction keys the map using arg.dest which preserves the original field name (e.g. "foo_bar"). At the second nesting level this mismatch causes a KeyError. Use subcommand_arg.dest to build the next subcommand_dest, matching how the map was keyed during construction. This also removes the now unused subcommand_alias local variable. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
fixes #736