Command Aliases in Click: True Aliases vs Prefix Matching

Click doesn’t provide built-in command aliases. The common workarounds are:

Prefix matching (native, via custom Group)
True aliases (via click-aliases package)

What’s the Difference?

Prefix matching

Type any unique prefix of a command name.

cli status  # Full command
cli st      # Prefix works if unique

True aliases

Multiple distinct names for the same command.

cli new     # Primary name
cli create  # Explicit alias
cli add     # Another explicit alias

Native Approach: Prefix Matching

Click’s documentation shows how to implement git-style abbreviations:

import click

class AliasedGroup(click.Group):
    def get_command(self, ctx, cmd_name):
        rv = click.Group.get_command(self, ctx, cmd_name)
        if rv is not None:
            return rv

        matches = [x for x in self.list_commands(ctx)
                   if x.startswith(cmd_name)]
        if not matches:
            return None
        elif len(matches) == 1:
            return click.Group.get_command(self, ctx, matches[0])

        ctx.fail(f"Too many matches: {', '.join(sorted(matches))}")

@click.group(cls=AliasedGroup)
def cli():
    pass

Limitation

Adding a start command would make st ambiguous if you already have status.

True Aliases: `click-aliases` Package

from click_aliases import ClickAliasedGroup

@click.group(cls=ClickAliasedGroup)
def cli():
    pass

@cli.command(aliases=['create', 'add'])
def new():
    click.echo('Creating...')