---
id: beautysh
version: "6.4.3"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# beautysh — A Bash beautifier for the masses.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 152.4K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Beautysh is a command-line tool and Python library that reformats Bash shell scripts to a consistent style. It parses Bash syntax—including ambiguous constructs like keywords used as variable names—and applies indentation, function formatting, and variable style transformations. The tool runs as a standalone CLI that beautifies files in place or checks them without modification, and can also be imported as a Python module for programmatic use.

The package handles real-world Bash complexity: here-docs are preserved unchanged to respect original formatting intent, special comments like `@formatter:off` allow selective disabling of formatting, and configuration can come from command-line flags, pyproject.toml, or .editorconfig files. It depends on colorama for colored output, editorconfig for configuration file support, and tomli for TOML parsing.

Use it for:

- Enforce consistent indentation and style across a large codebase of shell scripts in CI/CD pipelines.
- Reformat inherited or legacy Bash scripts to match a team's coding standards before maintenance work.
- Integrate into pre-commit hooks or editor plugins to auto-beautify shell scripts on save.
- Batch-process shell scripts in a repository or system directory to standardize formatting.
- Programmatically format Bash code within a Python application or build tool.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Beautysh automatically formats and beautifies Bash shell scripts with configurable indentation, function styles, and variable formatting, handling complex Bash syntax including here-docs and special cases.

Yes. Beautysh is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with minimal friction, and solves a real problem—Bash formatting is genuinely difficult due to the language's ambiguous syntax. Use it if you need to standardize shell script formatting across a team or codebase. The ~99% error-free rate on large system scripts suggests it handles real-world cases well, though edge cases may exist.

## Install

pip install beautysh
uv add beautysh
poetry add beautysh

## Installing beautysh

Before you install: Low friction: pure Python wheel with only three lightweight runtime dependencies (colorama, editorconfig, tomli). Active maintenance with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute beautysh freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install beautysh

beautysh file1.sh file2.sh

# Or as a module:
from beautysh import BashFormatter
formatter = BashFormatter(indent_size=4)
result, error = formatter.beautify_string("echo hello")

Requires Python 3.9 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the ~99% error-free rate mentioned in the description applies to current version 6.4.3 or is historical.
- Performance characteristics when processing very large Bash scripts or batch operations.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 152.4K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

bash script formatter, shell script beautifier, bash code formatter, shell indentation tool, bash linter beautify, shell script cleanup, bash style formatter, bash-formatting, code-quality, shell-scripting

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