rich-click
Format click help output nicely with rich
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Rich-click is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with low friction, and uses a permissive MIT license. It solves a genuine usability problem—making CLI help readable and attractive—with minimal code changes.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Low friction install with four straightforward runtime dependencies.
- Active maintenance with a recent release and no known vulnerabilities.
License · maintenance · safety
permissive license (permissive) — MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with minimal obligations—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
last release 2026-05-28 (78 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-13 · 816 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 49,242,571 downloads/mo, #586 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install rich-click
import rich_click as click
@click.command()
@click.option("--name", help="Your name")
def hello(name):
"""Simple program that greets NAME."""
click.echo(f"Hello, {name}!")
if __name__ == '__main__':
hello()- Minimum Click version required for compatibility
- Performance impact when rendering very large help texts or deeply nested command hierarchies
- Compatibility with terminal emulators that don't support ANSI color codes
What it is and what it does
Rich-click is a thin wrapper around Click that intercepts help and error message rendering and passes it through Rich's formatting engine instead. It lets you keep your existing Click code almost unchanged—typically just swapping `import click` for `import rich_click as click`—while gaining colored, paneled, and themed help output. The package ships with themes and supports environment variable configuration, so end-users can customize appearance without code changes.
It's designed for developers who want attractive CLI help text without extensive customization. You can also use it declaratively by passing `RichCommand` or `RichGroup` as the `cls` argument to Click decorators, or run it as a CLI tool to format help from third-party Click applications by prefixing commands with `rich-click`. The package depends on click, colorama, rich, and typing-extensions.
Use it for
- Improve help text appearance in an existing Click CLI by changing one import line
- Apply a consistent theme across all command help output via environment variable
- Group related commands and options into labeled panels for better organization
- Export help text as HTML or SVG for documentation or sharing
- Format help from third-party Click tools without modifying their source code
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Rich-click is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with low friction, and uses a permissive MIT license. It solves a genuine usability problem—making CLI help readable and attractive—with minimal code changes.
Install
rich-click on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction install with four straightforward runtime dependencies. Active maintenance with a recent release and no known vulnerabilities.
License in practice
MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with minimal obligations—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install rich-click
import rich_click as click
@click.command()
@click.option("--name", help="Your name")
def hello(name):
"""Simple program that greets NAME."""
click.echo(f"Hello, {name}!")
if __name__ == '__main__':
hello()Verify before relying
- Minimum Click version required for compatibility
- Performance impact when rendering very large help texts or deeply nested command hierarchies
- Compatibility with terminal emulators that don't support ANSI color codes
Package facts
| License | permissive license permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.8 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 4 packagesclickcoloramarichtyping-extensions |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 78 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 49,242,571 / month, #586 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 3 - AlphaIntended Audience :: DevelopersOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9 |
Evidence: rich_click-1.9.8-py3-none-any.whl
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See also click · more-click · click-help-colors · consolekit · rich-toolkit · auto-click-auto · django-rich · rich · ascii-colors · click-configfile