cli(feat) Show help instead of errors when commands lack required args

tony · tony · commit b49c9aff2fa2 · 2026-02-08T06:01:25.000-06:00
why: Improve developer experience by providing helpful guidance instead of
cryptic argparse errors or confusing behavior when CLI commands are called
without required arguments.

what:
- Add --all/-a flag to sync command (BREAKING: sync now requires --all to
  sync all repos, previously synced none silently)
- Show help for sync when no patterns and --all not specified
- Show help for search when no query terms provided (changed nargs="+" to "*")
- Show help for add when no repo_path provided (added nargs="?")
- Show help for discover when no scan_dir provided (added nargs="?")
- Update tests to verify new help-on-empty behavior
- Update CLI examples to show vcspull sync --all
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py b/src/vcspull/cli/__init__.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def build_description(
         (
             "sync",
             [
-                'vcspull sync "*"',
+                "vcspull sync --all",
                 'vcspull sync "django-*"',
                 'vcspull sync --dry-run "*"',
                 'vcspull sync -f ./myrepos.yaml "*"',
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def build_description(
         (
             None,
             [
-                'vcspull sync "*"',
+                "vcspull sync --all",
                 'vcspull sync "django-*"',
                 'vcspull sync --dry-run "*"',
                 'vcspull sync -f ./myrepos.yaml "*"',
@@ -354,9 +354,9 @@ def cli(_args: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
         sync_parser,
         _list_parser,
         _status_parser,
-        _search_parser,
-        _add_parser,
-        _discover_parser,
+        search_parser,
+        add_parser,
+        discover_parser,
         _fmt_parser,
     ) = subparsers
     args = parser.parse_args(_args)
@@ -384,6 +384,7 @@ def cli(_args: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
             fetch=getattr(args, "fetch", False),
             offline=getattr(args, "offline", False),
             verbosity=getattr(args, "verbosity", 0),
+            sync_all=getattr(args, "sync_all", False),
             parser=sync_parser,
         )
     elif args.subparser_name == "list":
@@ -409,6 +410,9 @@ def cli(_args: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
             max_concurrent=getattr(args, "max_concurrent", None),
         )
     elif args.subparser_name == "search":
+        if not args.query_terms:
+            search_parser.print_help()
+            return
         search_repos(
             query_terms=args.query_terms,
             config_path=pathlib.Path(args.config) if args.config else None,
@@ -425,8 +429,14 @@ def cli(_args: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
             match_any=getattr(args, "match_any", False),
         )
     elif args.subparser_name == "add":
+        if not args.repo_path:
+            add_parser.print_help()
+            return
         handle_add_command(args)
     elif args.subparser_name == "discover":
+        if not args.scan_dir:
+            discover_parser.print_help()
+            return
         discover_repos(
             scan_dir_str=args.scan_dir,
             config_file_path_str=args.config,
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/add.py b/src/vcspull/cli/add.py
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ def create_add_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
     """
     parser.add_argument(
         "repo_path",
+        nargs="?",
+        default=None,
         help=(
             "Filesystem path to an existing project. The parent directory "
             "becomes the workspace unless overridden with --workspace."
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/discover.py b/src/vcspull/cli/discover.py
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ def create_discover_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
     parser.add_argument(
         "scan_dir",
         metavar="PATH",
+        nargs="?",
+        default=None,
         help="Directory to scan for git repositories",
     )
     parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/search.py b/src/vcspull/cli/search.py
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ def create_search_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
     parser.add_argument(
         "query_terms",
         metavar="query",
-        nargs="+",
+        nargs="*",
         help=(
             "search query terms (regex by default). Use field prefixes like "
             "name:, path:, url:, workspace:."
diff --git a/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py b/src/vcspull/cli/sync.py
@@ -596,6 +596,13 @@ def create_sync_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> argparse.ArgumentP
         default=0,
         help="increase plan verbosity (-vv for maximum detail)",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--all",
+        "-a",
+        action="store_true",
+        dest="sync_all",
+        help="sync all configured repositories",
+    )
 
     try:
         import shtab
@@ -622,10 +629,17 @@ def sync(
     fetch: bool,
     offline: bool,
     verbosity: int,
+    sync_all: bool = False,
     parser: argparse.ArgumentParser
     | None = None,  # optional so sync can be unit tested
 ) -> None:
     """Entry point for ``vcspull sync``."""
+    # Show help if no patterns and --all not specified
+    if not repo_patterns and not sync_all:
+        if parser is not None:
+            parser.print_help()
+        return
+
     output_mode = get_output_mode(output_json, output_ndjson)
     formatter = OutputFormatter(output_mode)
     colors = Colors(get_color_mode(color))
@@ -647,26 +661,30 @@ def sync(
     found_repos: list[ConfigDict] = []
     unmatched_count = 0
 
-    for repo_pattern in repo_patterns:
-        path, vcs_url, name = None, None, None
-        if any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["./", "/", "~", "$HOME"]):
-            path = repo_pattern
-        elif any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["http", "git", "svn", "hg"]):
-            vcs_url = repo_pattern
-        else:
-            name = repo_pattern
-
-        found = filter_repos(configs, path=path, vcs_url=vcs_url, name=name)
-        if not found:
-            search_term = name or path or vcs_url or repo_pattern
-            log.debug(NO_REPOS_FOR_TERM_MSG.format(name=search_term))
-            if not summary_only:
-                formatter.emit_text(
-                    f"{colors.error('✗')} "
-                    f"{NO_REPOS_FOR_TERM_MSG.format(name=search_term)}",
-                )
-            unmatched_count += 1
-        found_repos.extend(found)
+    if sync_all:
+        # Load all repos when --all is specified
+        found_repos = list(configs)
+    else:
+        for repo_pattern in repo_patterns:
+            path, vcs_url, name = None, None, None
+            if any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["./", "/", "~", "$HOME"]):
+                path = repo_pattern
+            elif any(repo_pattern.startswith(n) for n in ["http", "git", "svn", "hg"]):
+                vcs_url = repo_pattern
+            else:
+                name = repo_pattern
+
+            found = filter_repos(configs, path=path, vcs_url=vcs_url, name=name)
+            if not found:
+                search_term = name or path or vcs_url or repo_pattern
+                log.debug(NO_REPOS_FOR_TERM_MSG.format(name=search_term))
+                if not summary_only:
+                    formatter.emit_text(
+                        f"{colors.error('✗')} "
+                        f"{NO_REPOS_FOR_TERM_MSG.format(name=search_term)}",
+                    )
+                unmatched_count += 1
+            found_repos.extend(found)
 
     if workspace_root:
         found_repos = filter_by_workspace(found_repos, workspace_root)
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -232,12 +232,19 @@ class SyncFixture(t.NamedTuple):
         expected_exit_code=0,
         expected_in_out=["{sync", "positional arguments:"],
     ),
-    # Sync
+    # Sync: No args shows help
     SyncFixture(
         test_id="sync--empty",
         sync_args=["sync"],
         expected_exit_code=0,
-        expected_in_out=["No repositories matched the criteria."],
+        expected_in_out=["--all", "--dry-run", "Synchronize VCS repositories"],
+    ),
+    # Sync: --all syncs all repos
+    SyncFixture(
+        test_id="sync--all",
+        sync_args=["sync", "--all"],
+        expected_exit_code=0,
+        expected_in_out="my_git_repo",
     ),
     # Sync: Help
     SyncFixture(
@@ -261,6 +268,27 @@ class SyncFixture(t.NamedTuple):
         expected_exit_code=0,
         expected_in_out="my_git_repo",
     ),
+    # Search: No args shows help
+    SyncFixture(
+        test_id="search--empty",
+        sync_args=["search"],
+        expected_exit_code=0,
+        expected_in_out=["search query terms", "--ignore-case"],
+    ),
+    # Add: No args shows help
+    SyncFixture(
+        test_id="add--empty",
+        sync_args=["add"],
+        expected_exit_code=0,
+        expected_in_out=["Filesystem path", "--workspace"],
+    ),
+    # Discover: No args shows help
+    SyncFixture(
+        test_id="discover--empty",
+        sync_args=["discover"],
+        expected_exit_code=0,
+        expected_in_out=["Directory to scan", "--recursive"],
+    ),
 ]
 
 
@@ -328,10 +356,21 @@ def test_sync(
     yaml_config = config_path / ".vcspull.yaml"
     write_config(yaml_config, yaml.dump(config, default_flow_style=False))
 
+    # Build CLI args, injecting -f for commands that need explicit config
+    cli_args = list(sync_args)
+    if (
+        cli_args
+        and cli_args[0] == "sync"
+        and "--help" not in cli_args
+        and "-h" not in cli_args
+    ):
+        # Inject config file path for sync commands to ensure test isolation
+        cli_args.extend(["-f", str(yaml_config)])
+
     # CLI can sync
     exit_code = 0
     try:
-        cli(sync_args)
+        cli(cli_args)
     except SystemExit as exc:
         exit_code = exc.code if isinstance(exc.code, int) else 0
 

Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ def create_discover_subparser(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:`
`124`	`124`	`parser.add_argument(`
`125`	`125`	`"scan_dir",`
`126`	`126`	`metavar="PATH",`
	`127`	`+ nargs="?",`
	`128`	`+ default=None,`
`127`	`129`	`help="Directory to scan for git repositories",`
`128`	`130`	`)`
`129`	`131`	`parser.add_argument(`