CLI Scripts with tyro

All Python CLI scripts use tyro for argument parsing — never argparse, click, or fire. tyro generates CLIs from type annotations with zero boilerplate, and --help output is derived directly from docstrings and type hints.

Core Principles

1. --help is the documentation. Every script must be fully self-documenting: module docstring with usage examples, every argument with a help string. A user running --help should never need to read source code.
2. PEP 723 inline metadata for standalone scripts. Declare tyro (and other deps) via inline metadata so scripts are runnable with uv run without project setup. If the script lives in a project with pyproject.toml and tyro is already a dependency, inline metadata is unnecessary.
3. Lean over clever. Simple dataclass with field docstrings covers 90% of use cases. Reach for advanced features (subcommands, nested configs) only when the CLI genuinely needs them.

PEP 723 Inline Dependencies

# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.11"
# dependencies = ["tyro"]
# ///

Place at the top of the file. The script is then runnable via uv run script.py --help.

Preferred Patterns

Pattern 1: Simple Dataclass (default choice)

For scripts with a flat set of arguments (~5-30 flags).

"""Process experiment data and generate reports.

Examples::

    uv run process.py --input data.csv --output report.html
    uv run process.py --input data.csv --format json --verbose
"""
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Literal
import tyro

@dataclass
class Args:
    input: str
    """Path to the input data file."""
    output: str = "report.html"
    """Path to the output report."""
    format: Literal["html", "json", "csv"] = "html"
    """Output format."""
    verbose: bool = False
    """Enable verbose logging."""

if __name__ == "__main__":
    args = tyro.cli(Args, description=__doc__)

Pattern 2a: Decorator Subcommands (preferred for extensible CLIs)

tyro.extras.SubcommandApp — click-inspired decorator API. Works with 1+ subcommands (unlike Union which needs 2+).

import tyro
from tyro.extras import SubcommandApp

app = SubcommandApp()

@app.command(name="train")
def train(args: TrainArgs) -> None:
    """Train a model."""
    ...

@app.command(name="eval")
def eval(args: EvalArgs) -> None:
    """Evaluate a checkpoint."""
    ...

if __name__ == "__main__":
    app.cli(description=__doc__, config=(tyro.conf.OmitArgPrefixes,))

• description goes on .cli(), not SubcommandApp().
• OmitArgPrefixes avoids --args. prefix from the function parameter name.

Pattern 2b: Union Subcommands (static multi-command tools)

When subcommands are known at type-definition time and you want pure type-based dispatch.

Limitation: Python collapses Union[X] to X, so this requires 2+ variants. For a single subcommand, use Pattern 2a instead.

from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Annotated
import tyro

@dataclass
class Train:
    """Train the model."""
    epochs: int = 10
    """Number of training epochs."""
    lr: float = 3e-4
    """Learning rate."""

@dataclass
class Eval:
    """Evaluate a checkpoint."""
    checkpoint: Annotated[str, tyro.conf.Positional]
    """Path to model checkpoint."""

Cmd = (
    Annotated[Train, tyro.conf.subcommand(name="train", prefix_name=False)]
    | Annotated[Eval, tyro.conf.subcommand(name="eval", prefix_name=False)]
)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    cmd = tyro.cli(Cmd, description=__doc__)

Pattern 3: Nested Dataclasses (hierarchical configs)

When arguments naturally group into subsections. Creates dot-prefixed flags like --optimizer.lr.

@dataclass
class OptimizerConfig:
    lr: float = 3e-4
    """Learning rate."""
    weight_decay: float = 1e-2
    """Weight decay coefficient."""

@dataclass
class Config:
    optimizer: OptimizerConfig
    seed: int = 0
    """Random seed."""

config = tyro.cli(Config)

Documenting --help

Module Docstring → Program Description

The module docstring (or description=__doc__) becomes the top-level help text. Structure it as:

1. One-line summary of what the script does
2. Blank line, then details/context if needed
3. Examples:: section with concrete invocations (the :: is reStructuredText convention, renders cleanly)

"""Stress test for the TTS synthesis pipeline.

Simulates concurrent users with realistic playback patterns.
Auth: set PROD_TEST_EMAIL/PROD_TEST_PASSWORD in .env, or pass --token.

Examples::

    uv run stress_test.py --users 5
    uv run stress_test.py --token TOKEN --users 10 --speed 2
"""

Field Docstrings → Argument Help

Triple-quoted strings immediately after a dataclass field become its --help text.

@dataclass
class Args:
    learning_rate: float = 3e-4
    """Learning rate for the optimizer. Values between 1e-5 and 1e-2 are typical."""

Function-Based CLIs

For function signatures, use Google-style docstrings with an Args: section:

def main(input_path: str, verbose: bool = False) -> None:
    """Process files.

    Args:
        input_path: Path to the input file.
        verbose: Enable verbose logging.
    """

Gotchas

Newlines in Docstrings

tyro collapses single newlines to spaces (like HTML). To force a line break:

• Use a blank line (double newline) for paragraph breaks
• Start the next line with a non-alpha character (-, *, a number) — this forces a break

# WRONG: renders as one line in --help
"""First line.
Second line."""

# RIGHT: preserved as separate lines
"""First line.

Second line."""

# RIGHT: bullet list preserved (lines start with -)
"""Choose a mode:
- fast: skip validation
- safe: full validation"""

Booleans Need Defaults

A bool field without a default requires --flag True or --flag False (not just --flag). Always provide a default to get --flag/--no-flag toggle behavior:

# BAD: requires --verbose True / --verbose False
verbose: bool

# GOOD: --verbose enables, --no-verbose disables
verbose: bool = False

Optional Args Display

str | None = None shows as {None}|STR in help, which is ugly. No built-in fix — use metavar= via tyro.conf.arg(metavar="VALUE") to override, or provide a default string value instead of None where possible.

Subcommand Argument Ordering

Arguments before the subcommand selector go to the parent parser. Arguments after go to the subcommand. Use tyro.conf.CascadeSubcommandArgs to relax this constraint if mixing shared args with subcommands.

Comment Help Text Propagation

A comment block above consecutive fields applies to ALL of them (not just the first). Separate field groups with blank lines or use field docstrings instead.

# BAD: this comment applies to BOTH fields
# Controls the learning rate
lr: float = 3e-4
weight_decay: float = 1e-2  # unintentionally gets "Controls the learning rate"

# GOOD: use field docstrings
lr: float = 3e-4
"""Controls the learning rate."""
weight_decay: float = 1e-2
"""L2 regularization coefficient."""

__post_init__ with default=

When passing default=Config(...) to tyro.cli(), __post_init__ is called twice (once for the default, once for the parsed result). Avoid side effects in __post_init__; use @property for derived fields.

Machine-Consumable Output

CLIs should be usable by both humans and programs (LLMs, scripts, pipelines). Don't build format converters into every CLI — emit JSON and let consumers transform it with jq (@csv, @tsv, etc.). Two flags handle the human/machine split:

--plain — terse, undecorated text

Strips progress bars, unicode boxes, color codes, and decorative formatting. Emits compact text (TSV, plain prose, etc.). Use when the consumer wants readable text but not visual chrome.

plain: bool = False
"""Terse output — no bars, no unicode, no color. For piping to LLMs or scripts."""

Make --plain affect all output paths — tables, progress indicators, summaries. The default (rich/human-friendly) stays unchanged.

--json — structured data

For commands that list, query, or return structured data, add a --json flag that emits JSON. This lets consumers pipe to jq for filtering/transformation without fragile text parsing.

json: bool = False
"""Emit JSON to stdout. Pipe to jq for filtering."""

When --json is active, emit valid JSON to stdout (errors/warnings still go to stderr). For list commands, emit a JSON array. For single-item queries, emit a JSON object. For other formats (csv, etc.), consumers can derive them from JSON via jq.

JSON schemas in --help

For any command that supports --json, document the schema in its help text so consumers know the shape without trial and error. Include it in the command's docstring:

"""List available resources.

JSON schema (--json)::

    [{"id": "str", "name": "str", "status": "available|reserved", "region": "str"}]

Examples::

    uv run tool.py list --json | jq '.[] | select(.status == "available")'
    uv run tool.py list --plain --region us-east
"""

This is especially valuable when the CLI is used as a tool by LLM agents — they can read --help once and know exactly what to jq for, instead of running exploratory commands to discover the output shape.

Anti-Patterns

String choices instead of Literal. Use Literal["a", "b"] — not str with choices documented in the docstring. Literal gives type safety, auto-completion, and tyro generates proper {a,b} choices in help.

Multiple tyro.cli() calls with return_unknown_args. Calling tyro.cli() twice and passing leftovers to a second call is fragile. Use a single nested dataclass instead.

OmitArgPrefixes with nested dataclasses. Can cause name collisions if nested structs share field names. Only use for flat, single-dataclass CLIs.

Overusing argparse habits. No need for add_argument, ArgumentParser, or manual type conversion. If reaching for argparse patterns, there's a tyro way to do it.

Useful Features Reference

Feature	Usage	When
Positional args	Annotated[str, tyro.conf.Positional]	Natural positional CLI args (paths, names)
Variadic positional	Annotated[list[str], tyro.conf.Positional]	Multiple positional args (script.py a b c)
Short aliases	Annotated[str, tyro.conf.arg(aliases=["-v"])]	Common flags that deserve short forms
Custom arg config	tyro.conf.arg(name=, help=, metavar=, aliases=)	Fine-grained control over a single argument
Choices	Literal["a", "b", "c"]	Constrained string values
Enum choices	MyEnum (name-based) or tyro.conf.EnumChoicesFromValues[MyEnum] (value-based)	When enum objects are needed downstream
Omit prefixes	tyro.cli(Args, config=(tyro.conf.OmitArgPrefixes,))	Single flat dataclass, avoid --args.field
Repeat flags	tyro.conf.UseAppendAction[list[str]]	--tag foo --tag bar instead of --tag foo bar
Subcommand defaults	tyro.conf.subcommand(name="x", default=X())	Pre-filled subcommand defaults
Cascade args	config=(tyro.conf.CascadeSubcommandArgs,)	Flexible arg ordering with subcommands
Suppress field	field: tyro.conf.Suppress[int] = 42	Hide internal fields from CLI entirely
Fixed field	field: tyro.conf.Fixed[int] = 42	Show in help but don't allow override