The Fastest Way to Create Python Command Line Tools With Fire

See how to turn any Python script into a fast, practical command line tool using Fire, with simple examples that show you how to automate tasks and speed up your workflow.

Turning a Python script into something you can run from the command line should feel simple, and that’s exactly what Fire gives you.

You write a normal Python file with regular functions, classes, or even just variables, and Fire turns it into a command-line tool right away. There’s no extra setup and nothing complicated to wire together.

If you’ve ever written a script and wished you could run it the same way you run any other command, Fire does that for you.

You point it at your code, and suddenly you have a tool that understands arguments, handles types, and even shows help text without you having to write anything extra.

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I’ve tried different ways of building command-line tools, and most of them felt heavier than they needed to be. Some made you write long configuration files, others relied on decorators everywhere, and a few needed so much setup that you’d forget what you were trying to do in the first place.

Fire skips all of that. You add one line, fire.Fire(), and your script is ready to use from the command line.

Today I’ll show you how Fire works, how it handles arguments, and how you can build simple or more advanced command-line tools without changing the structure of your program.

Once you see it in action, you’ll start noticing all the small scripts in your projects that would be far more helpful if they were command-line tools. To get started, install Fire:

pip3 install fire

Take a moment and get comfortable. Your Python files are about to turn into real command-line tools.

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