Add CLI App Support (#389)

Author: kschwab

docs/index.md

@@ -507,8 +507,7 @@ models. There are two primary use cases for Pydantic settings CLI:
 
 By default, the experience is tailored towards use case #1 and builds on the foundations established in [parsing
 environment variables](#parsing-environment-variable-values). If your use case primarily falls into #2, you will likely
-want to enable [enforcing required arguments at the CLI](#enforce-required-arguments-at-cli) and [nested model default
-partial updates](#nested-model-default-partial-updates).
+want to enable most of the defaults outlined at the end of [creating CLI applications](#creating-cli-applications).
 
 ### The Basics
 
@@ -560,19 +559,7 @@ print(Settings().model_dump())
 ```
 
 To enable CLI parsing, we simply set the `cli_parse_args` flag to a valid value, which retains similar conotations as
-defined in `argparse`. Alternatively, we can also directly provide the args to parse at time of instantiation:
-
-```py
-from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
-
-
-class Settings(BaseSettings):
-    this_foo: str
-
-
-print(Settings(_cli_parse_args=['--this_foo', 'is such a foo']).model_dump())
-#> {'this_foo': 'is such a foo'}
-```
+defined in `argparse`.
 
 Note that a CLI settings source is [**the topmost source**](#field-value-priority) by default unless its [priority value
 is customised](#customise-settings-sources):
@@ -875,6 +862,95 @@ sys.argv = ['example.py', 'gamma-cmd', '--opt-gamma=hi']
 assert get_subcommand(Root()).model_dump() == {'opt_gamma': 'hi'}
 ```
 
+### Creating CLI Applications
+
+The `CliApp` class provides two utility methods, `CliApp.run` and `CliApp.run_subcommand`, that can be used to run a
+Pydantic `BaseSettings`, `BaseModel`, or `pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass` as a CLI application. Primarily, the methods
+provide structure for running `cli_cmd` methods associated with models.
+
+`CliApp.run` can be used in directly providing the `cli_args` to be parsed, and will run the model `cli_cmd` method (if
+defined) after instantiation:
+
+```py
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, CliApp
+
+
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
+    this_foo: str
+
+    def cli_cmd(self) -> None:
+        # Print the parsed data
+        print(self.model_dump())
+        #> {'this_foo': 'is such a foo'}
+
+        # Update the parsed data showing cli_cmd ran
+        self.this_foo = 'ran the foo cli cmd'
+
+
+s = CliApp.run(Settings, cli_args=['--this_foo', 'is such a foo'])
+print(s.model_dump())
+#> {'this_foo': 'ran the foo cli cmd'}
+```
+
+Similarly, the `CliApp.run_subcommand` can be used in recursive fashion to run the `cli_cmd` method of a subcommand:
+
+```py
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+from pydantic_settings import CliApp, CliPositionalArg, CliSubCommand
+
+
+class Init(BaseModel):
+    directory: CliPositionalArg[str]
+
+    def cli_cmd(self) -> None:
+        print(f'git init "{self.directory}"')
+        #> git init "dir"
+        self.directory = 'ran the git init cli cmd'
+
+
+class Clone(BaseModel):
+    repository: CliPositionalArg[str]
+    directory: CliPositionalArg[str]
+
+    def cli_cmd(self) -> None:
+        print(f'git clone from "{self.repository}" into "{self.directory}"')
+        self.directory = 'ran the clone cli cmd'
+
+
+class Git(BaseModel):
+    clone: CliSubCommand[Clone]
+    init: CliSubCommand[Init]
+
+    def cli_cmd(self) -> None:
+        CliApp.run_subcommand(self)
+
+
+cmd = CliApp.run(Git, cli_args=['init', 'dir'])
+assert cmd.model_dump() == {
+    'clone': None,
+    'init': {'directory': 'ran the git init cli cmd'},
+}
+```
+
+!!! note
+    Unlike `CliApp.run`, `CliApp.run_subcommand` requires the subcommand model to have a defined `cli_cmd` method.
+
+For `BaseModel` and `pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass` types, `CliApp.run` will internally use the following
+`BaseSettings` configuration defaults:
+
+* `alias_generator=AliasGenerator(lambda s: s.replace('_', '-'))`
+* `nested_model_default_partial_update=True`
+* `case_sensitive=True`
+* `cli_hide_none_type=True`
+* `cli_avoid_json=True`
+* `cli_enforce_required=True`
+* `cli_implicit_flags=True`
+
+!!! note
+    The alias generator for kebab case does not propagate to subcommands or submodels and will have to be manually set
+    in these cases.
+
 ### Customizing the CLI Experience
 
 The below flags can be used to customise the CLI experience to your needs.
@@ -1241,7 +1317,7 @@ defined one that specifies the `root_parser` object.
 import sys
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 
-from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, CliSettingsSource
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, CliApp, CliSettingsSource
 
 parser = ArgumentParser()
 parser.add_argument('--food', choices=['pear', 'kiwi', 'lime'])
@@ -1256,13 +1332,15 @@ cli_settings = CliSettingsSource(Settings, root_parser=parser)
 
 # Parse and load CLI settings from the command line into the settings source.
 sys.argv = ['example.py', '--food', 'kiwi', '--name', 'waldo']
-print(Settings(_cli_settings_source=cli_settings(args=True)).model_dump())
+s = CliApp.run(Settings, cli_settings_source=cli_settings)
+print(s.model_dump())
 #> {'name': 'waldo'}
 
 # Load CLI settings from pre-parsed arguments. i.e., the parsing occurs elsewhere and we
 # just need to load the pre-parsed args into the settings source.
 parsed_args = parser.parse_args(['--food', 'kiwi', '--name', 'ralph'])
-print(Settings(_cli_settings_source=cli_settings(parsed_args=parsed_args)).model_dump())
+s = CliApp.run(Settings, cli_args=parsed_args, cli_settings_source=cli_settings)
+print(s.model_dump())
 #> {'name': 'ralph'}
 ```
 
@@ -1281,6 +1359,11 @@ parser methods that can be customised, along with their argparse counterparts (t
 For a non-argparse parser the parser methods can be set to `None` if not supported. The CLI settings will only raise an
 error when connecting to the root parser if a parser method is necessary but set to `None`.
 
+!!! note
+    The `formatter_class` is only applied to subcommands. The `CliSettingsSource` never touches or modifies any of the
+    external parser settings to avoid breaking changes. Since subcommands reside on their own internal parser trees, we
+    can safely apply the `formatter_class` settings without breaking the external parser logic.
+
 ## Secrets
 
 Placing secret values in files is a common pattern to provide sensitive configuration to an application.

pydantic_settings/__init__.py

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from .main import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
+from .main import BaseSettings, CliApp, SettingsConfigDict
 from .sources import (
     AzureKeyVaultSettingsSource,
     CliExplicitFlag,
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     'BaseSettings',
     'DotEnvSettingsSource',
     'EnvSettingsSource',
+    'CliApp',
     'CliSettingsSource',
     'CliSubCommand',
     'CliPositionalArg',

pydantic_settings/main.py

@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 from __future__ import annotations as _annotations
 
-from typing import Any, ClassVar
+from argparse import Namespace
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from typing import Any, ClassVar, TypeVar
 
-from pydantic import ConfigDict
+from pydantic import AliasGenerator, ConfigDict
 from pydantic._internal._config import config_keys
-from pydantic._internal._utils import deep_update
+from pydantic._internal._signature import _field_name_for_signature
+from pydantic._internal._utils import deep_update, is_model_class
+from pydantic.dataclasses import is_pydantic_dataclass
 from pydantic.main import BaseModel
 
 from .sources import (
@@ -17,9 +21,14 @@
     InitSettingsSource,
     PathType,
     PydanticBaseSettingsSource,
+    PydanticModel,
     SecretsSettingsSource,
+    SettingsError,
+    get_subcommand,
 )
 
+T = TypeVar('T')
+
 
 class SettingsConfigDict(ConfigDict, total=False):
     case_sensitive: bool
@@ -33,7 +42,6 @@ class SettingsConfigDict(ConfigDict, total=False):
     env_parse_enums: bool | None
     cli_prog_name: str | None
     cli_parse_args: bool | list[str] | tuple[str, ...] | None
-    cli_settings_source: CliSettingsSource[Any] | None
     cli_parse_none_str: str | None
     cli_hide_none_type: bool
     cli_avoid_json: bool
@@ -91,7 +99,8 @@ class BaseSettings(BaseModel):
     All the below attributes can be set via `model_config`.
 
     Args:
-        _case_sensitive: Whether environment variables names should be read with case-sensitivity. Defaults to `None`.
+        _case_sensitive: Whether environment and CLI variable names should be read with case-sensitivity.
+            Defaults to `None`.
         _nested_model_default_partial_update: Whether to allow partial updates on nested model default object fields.
             Defaults to `False`.
         _env_prefix: Prefix for all environment variables. Defaults to `None`.
@@ -345,26 +354,24 @@ def _settings_build_values(
             file_secret_settings=file_secret_settings,
         ) + (default_settings,)
         if not any([source for source in sources if isinstance(source, CliSettingsSource)]):
-            if cli_parse_args is not None or cli_settings_source is not None:
-                cli_settings = (
-                    CliSettingsSource(
-                        self.__class__,
-                        cli_prog_name=cli_prog_name,
-                        cli_parse_args=cli_parse_args,
-                        cli_parse_none_str=cli_parse_none_str,
-                        cli_hide_none_type=cli_hide_none_type,
-                        cli_avoid_json=cli_avoid_json,
-                        cli_enforce_required=cli_enforce_required,
-                        cli_use_class_docs_for_groups=cli_use_class_docs_for_groups,
-                        cli_exit_on_error=cli_exit_on_error,
-                        cli_prefix=cli_prefix,
-                        cli_flag_prefix_char=cli_flag_prefix_char,
-                        cli_implicit_flags=cli_implicit_flags,
-                        cli_ignore_unknown_args=cli_ignore_unknown_args,
-                        case_sensitive=case_sensitive,
-                    )
-                    if cli_settings_source is None
-                    else cli_settings_source
+            if isinstance(cli_settings_source, CliSettingsSource):
+                sources = (cli_settings_source,) + sources
+            elif cli_parse_args is not None:
+                cli_settings = CliSettingsSource[Any](
+                    self.__class__,
+                    cli_prog_name=cli_prog_name,
+                    cli_parse_args=cli_parse_args,
+                    cli_parse_none_str=cli_parse_none_str,
+                    cli_hide_none_type=cli_hide_none_type,
+                    cli_avoid_json=cli_avoid_json,
+                    cli_enforce_required=cli_enforce_required,
+                    cli_use_class_docs_for_groups=cli_use_class_docs_for_groups,
+                    cli_exit_on_error=cli_exit_on_error,
+                    cli_prefix=cli_prefix,
+                    cli_flag_prefix_char=cli_flag_prefix_char,
+                    cli_implicit_flags=cli_implicit_flags,
+                    cli_ignore_unknown_args=cli_ignore_unknown_args,
+                    case_sensitive=case_sensitive,
                 )
                 sources = (cli_settings,) + sources
         if sources:
@@ -401,7 +408,6 @@ def _settings_build_values(
         env_parse_enums=None,
         cli_prog_name=None,
         cli_parse_args=None,
-        cli_settings_source=None,
         cli_parse_none_str=None,
         cli_hide_none_type=False,
         cli_avoid_json=False,
@@ -420,3 +426,114 @@ def _settings_build_values(
         secrets_dir=None,
         protected_namespaces=('model_', 'settings_'),
     )
+
+
+class CliApp:
+    """
+    A utility class for running Pydantic `BaseSettings`, `BaseModel`, or `pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass` as
+    CLI applications.
+    """
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _run_cli_cmd(model: Any, cli_cmd_method_name: str, is_required: bool) -> Any:
+        if hasattr(type(model), cli_cmd_method_name):
+            getattr(type(model), cli_cmd_method_name)(model)
+        elif is_required:
+            raise SettingsError(f'Error: {type(model).__name__} class is missing {cli_cmd_method_name} entrypoint')
+        return model
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def run(
+        model_cls: type[T],
+        cli_args: list[str] | Namespace | SimpleNamespace | dict[str, Any] | None = None,
+        cli_settings_source: CliSettingsSource[Any] | None = None,
+        cli_exit_on_error: bool | None = None,
+        cli_cmd_method_name: str = 'cli_cmd',
+        **model_init_data: Any,
+    ) -> T:
+        """
+        Runs a Pydantic `BaseSettings`, `BaseModel`, or `pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass` as a CLI application.
+        Running a model as a CLI application requires the `cli_cmd` method to be defined in the model class.
+
+        Args:
+            model_cls: The model class to run as a CLI application.
+            cli_args: The list of CLI arguments to parse. If `cli_settings_source` is specified, this may
+                also be a namespace or dictionary of pre-parsed CLI arguments. Defaults to `sys.argv[1:]`.
+            cli_settings_source: Override the default CLI settings source with a user defined instance.
+                Defaults to `None`.
+            cli_exit_on_error: Determines whether this function exits on error. If model is subclass of
+                `BaseSettings`, defaults to BaseSettings `cli_exit_on_error` value. Otherwise, defaults to
+                `True`.
+            cli_cmd_method_name: The CLI command method name to run. Defaults to "cli_cmd".
+            model_init_data: The model init data.
+
+        Returns:
+            The ran instance of model.
+
+        Raises:
+            SettingsError: If model_cls is not subclass of `BaseModel` or `pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass`.
+            SettingsError: If model_cls does not have a `cli_cmd` entrypoint defined.
+        """
+
+        if not (is_pydantic_dataclass(model_cls) or is_model_class(model_cls)):
+            raise SettingsError(
+                f'Error: {model_cls.__name__} is not subclass of BaseModel or pydantic.dataclasses.dataclass'
+            )
+
+        cli_settings = None
+        cli_parse_args = True if cli_args is None else cli_args
+        if cli_settings_source is not None:
+            if isinstance(cli_parse_args, (Namespace, SimpleNamespace, dict)):
+                cli_settings = cli_settings_source(parsed_args=cli_parse_args)
+            else:
+                cli_settings = cli_settings_source(args=cli_parse_args)
+        elif isinstance(cli_parse_args, (Namespace, SimpleNamespace, dict)):
+            raise SettingsError('Error: `cli_args` must be list[str] or None when `cli_settings_source` is not used')
+
+        model_init_data['_cli_parse_args'] = cli_parse_args
+        model_init_data['_cli_exit_on_error'] = cli_exit_on_error
+        model_init_data['_cli_settings_source'] = cli_settings
+        if not issubclass(model_cls, BaseSettings):
+
+            class CliAppBaseSettings(BaseSettings, model_cls):  # type: ignore
+                model_config = SettingsConfigDict(
+                    alias_generator=AliasGenerator(lambda s: s.replace('_', '-')),
+                    nested_model_default_partial_update=True,
+                    case_sensitive=True,
+                    cli_hide_none_type=True,
+                    cli_avoid_json=True,
+                    cli_enforce_required=True,
+                    cli_implicit_flags=True,
+                )
+
+            model = CliAppBaseSettings(**model_init_data)
+            model_init_data = {}
+            for field_name, field_info in model.model_fields.items():
+                model_init_data[_field_name_for_signature(field_name, field_info)] = getattr(model, field_name)
+
+        return CliApp._run_cli_cmd(model_cls(**model_init_data), cli_cmd_method_name, is_required=False)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def run_subcommand(
+        model: PydanticModel, cli_exit_on_error: bool | None = None, cli_cmd_method_name: str = 'cli_cmd'
+    ) -> PydanticModel:
+        """
+        Runs the model subcommand. Running a model subcommand requires the `cli_cmd` method to be defined in
+        the nested model subcommand class.
+
+        Args:
+            model: The model to run the subcommand from.
+            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`.
+            cli_cmd_method_name: The CLI command method name to run. Defaults to "cli_cmd".
+
+        Returns:
+            The ran subcommand model.
+
+        Raises:
+            SystemExit: When no subcommand is found and cli_exit_on_error=`True` (the default).
+            SettingsError: When no subcommand is found and cli_exit_on_error=`False`.
+        """
+
+        subcommand = get_subcommand(model, is_required=True, cli_exit_on_error=cli_exit_on_error)
+        return CliApp._run_cli_cmd(subcommand, cli_cmd_method_name, is_required=True)