autopypath 1.0.1
Automatic path management for testing and development.
Requires Python: >=3.9
Keywords: PYTHONPATH, automation, configuration, development, dynamic import, environment, import, path management, runtime, sys.path, testing, tooling

autopypath
==========

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Table of Contents
-----------------
-  `Usage <https://python-autopypath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html>`_
-  `Configuration <https://python-autopypath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/configuration.html>`_
-  `Public API <https://python-autopypath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/public_api.html>`_
-  `Contributing <https://python-autopypath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html>`_
-  `Code of Conduct <https://python-autopypath.readthedocs.io/en/latest/code_of_conduct.html>`_

What is autopypath?
-------------------

**autopypath** is a library that simplifies the management of the Python module
search path (``sys.path``) for testing and development environments.

It automatically detects your project root (via `.git <https://git-scm.com/>`_,
`pyproject.toml <https://python-poetry.org/docs/pyproject/>`_, etc.)
and intelligently adds source directories to ``sys.path`` at runtime.

It *does not* read ``.env`` files to derive
`PYTHONPATH <https://docs.python.org/3/using/cmdline.html#envvar-PYTHONPATH>`_ because
the semantics cannot be consistently interpreted across different operating systems.

For example, consider ``PYTHONPATH=src:test;lib``:

* On POSIX, ``PYTHONPATH`` is separated by ``:`` → ``["src", "test;lib"]``
* On Windows, ``PYTHONPATH`` is separated by ``;`` → ``["src:test", "lib"]``
* And the intent may have been ``["src", "test", "lib"]``

All of those interpretations are "reasonable", so autopypath avoids guessing
what was meant and instead uses ``pyproject.toml`` or ``autopypath.toml`` for configuration.

The Problem it Solves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In active development, **builds are often broken.**
Standard test runners (like `pytest <https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/>`_ or
`tox <https://tox.wiki/>`_) often refuse to start if they
cannot import the entire package, or if the package hasn't been re-installed
into the virtual environment after a structural change.

**autopypath allows you to run individual tests or scripts in isolation, even if:**

- The project build is currently broken.
- The package is not installed in the current environment.
- Other parts of the test suite are failing due to ongoing refactoring.

It is not a replacement for `virtual environments <https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html>`_,
but a resilience tool. It mitigates path-related ``ModuleNotFoundError`` errors,
allowing you to debug a specific file without needing the entire project ecosystem to be in a perfect,
deployable state.

Installation
------------

Installing from PyPI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. code-block:: shell

   pip install autopypath

Installing from Source
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. code-block:: shell

   git clone https://github.com/JerilynFranz/python-autopypath.git
   cd python-autopypath
   pip install .

Development Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For development purposes, you can install ``autopypath`` in editable mode.
To make this easier, a ``bootstrap.py`` script is provided.

.. code-block:: shell

   git clone https://github.com/JerilynFranz/python-autopypath.git
   cd python-autopypath
   python3 bootstrap.py
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows use .venv\Scripts\activate

This script will:

1.  Set up the development environment (``uv sync --all-groups``).
2.  Install ``autopypath`` in editable mode.
3.  Install Git hooks for pre-commit checks.
4.  Install development tools like `tox <https://tox.wiki/>`_, `sphinx <https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/>`_, and `ruff <https://ruff.rs/>`_.

Usage
-----

Simply import ``autopypath`` at the top of your test script. It will
automatically detect the project root and adjust ``sys.path`` accordingly
(by default adding ``src``, ``lib``, ``src/tests``, and ``tests`` directories if they exist).

It does not add ``.`` to ``sys.path`` by default to avoid conflicts with subdirectories
that are NOT intended to be packages, but if you want to include the repo root
directory, you can configure it
via `pyproject.toml <https://python-poetry.org/docs/pyproject/>`_ or ``autopypath.toml``.

Here is an example:

.. code-block:: python

   import autopypath  # <--- This line adjusts the sys.path
   import pytest

   # Now these imports work without installing the package
   import mypackage.my_module

   if __name__ == '__main__':
      pytest.main([__file__])

You can now run this file directly:

.. code-block:: shell

   python tests/my_test_script.py

Configuration
-------------

autopypath automatically detects `pyproject.toml <https://python-poetry.org/docs/pyproject/>`_.
You can configure it by adding a ``[tool.autopypath]`` section.

**Example `pyproject.toml`:**

.. code-block:: toml

   [tool.autopypath]
   paths = ["lib", "src/tests", ".", "src"]

If you do not use ``pyproject.toml``, you can create an ``autopypath.toml``  file
either in your root directory or in subdirectories such as ``src`` or ``tests``
and it will be detected automatically. This can be useful for monorepos or
multi-package repositories and allows customization of ``sys.path`` per sub-project
or for detection of the project root in non-standard layouts.

**Example `autopypath.toml`:**

.. code-block:: toml

   [tool.autopypath]
   paths = ["src", "src/lib", "tests"]
   repo_markers = {".git" = "dir"}
 
This file can be placed in the root of your project or in any directory
that is a parent of your test scripts (but still inside the repo).