---
id: prompt-toolkit
version: "3.0.53"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# prompt_toolkit — Library for building powerful interactive command lines in Python

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install prompt-toolkit
uv add prompt-toolkit
poetry add prompt-toolkit

## Description

Python Prompt Toolkit
=====================

|AppVeyor|  |PyPI|  |RTD|  |License|  |Codecov|

.. image :: /docs/images/logo_400px.png

``prompt_toolkit`` *is a library for building powerful interactive command line applications in Python.*

Read the `documentation on readthedocs
<http://python-prompt-toolkit.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_.


Gallery
*******

`ptpython <http://github.com/prompt-toolkit/ptpython/>`_ is an interactive
Python Shell, build on top of ``prompt_toolkit``.

.. image :: /docs/images/ptpython.png

`More examples <https://python-prompt-toolkit.readthedocs.io/en/stable/pages/gallery.html>`_


prompt_toolkit features
***********************

``prompt_toolkit`` could be a replacement for `GNU readline
<https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/rltop.html>`_, but it can be much
more than that.

Some features:

- **Pure Python**.
- Syntax highlighting of the input while typing. (For instance, with a Pygments lexer.)
- Multi-line input editing.
- Advanced code completion.
- Both Emacs and Vi key bindings. (Similar to readline.)
- Even some advanced Vi functionality, like named registers and digraphs.
- Reverse and forward incremental search.
- Works well with...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

A pure-Python library for building interactive command-line applications with syntax highlighting, multi-line editing, code completion, and both Emacs and Vi key bindings.

Verdict: A production-stable, actively maintained library with minimal dependencies and no known vulnerabilities. Ideal for developers building interactive CLI tools in Python; the low install friction and permissive license make adoption straightforward.

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/prompt-toolkit) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/prompt-toolkit/)