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Interactive Prompts

Zero-dependency interactive CLI prompts (confirm, select, text) -- stdlib only, Python 3.10+.

Replaces: inquirer, questionary

Overview

The Prompt module provides interactive command-line prompts similar to questionary, using only the Python standard library. Works on Linux and macOS (via termios/tty) and Windows (via msvcrt) with an automatic fallback to plain input() when a TTY is unavailable.

File Description Dependencies
prompt.py Pure Python implementation None (stdlib only: sys, os, io, contextlib, termios/tty or msvcrt)

How to Use in Your Project

Just copy the single .py file into your project:

cp prompt/prompt.py your_project/

Then import directly:

from prompt import confirm, select, text, Style

Usage Examples

confirm()

from prompt import confirm

answer = confirm("Continue with installation?")
if answer:
    print("Installing...")
else:
    print("Cancelled.")

With custom default:

# Default to "No"
answer = confirm("Delete all files?", default=False)

select()

from prompt import select

# Simple string choices
lang = select("Choose a language:", ["Python", "Rust", "Go"])
print(f"You chose: {lang}")

With name/value dicts:

choice = select("Pick a color:", [
    {"name": "Red", "value": "#ff0000"},
    {"name": "Green", "value": "#00ff00"},
    {"name": "Blue", "value": "#0000ff"},
])
print(f"Hex: {choice}")

With a default selection:

lang = select("Language:", ["Python", "Rust", "Go"], default="Python")

text()

from prompt import text

name = text("Your name:")
print(f"Hello, {name}!")

With validation:

email = text(
    "Email address:",
    validate=lambda s: True if "@" in s else "Must contain @",
)

With default value:

host = text("Hostname:", default="localhost")

Custom Styling

from prompt import confirm, Style

style = Style([
    ("question", "fg:#00ff00 bold"),
    ("answer", "fg:#ffffff"),
    ("pointer", "fg:#ff0000"),
    ("highlighted", "fg:#00ffff bold"),
    ("instruction", "fg:#888888"),
    ("error", "fg:#ff0000 bold"),
])

answer = confirm("Continue?", style=style)

API Reference

confirm(message, default=True, style=None)

Ask a yes/no question.

Parameters:

Name Type Default Description
message str -- The question to display.
default bool True Pre-selected answer (True = Yes).
style Style \| None None Optional style customisation.

Returns: True for yes, False for no, or None if cancelled (Ctrl-C).

select(message, choices, default=None, style=None)

Show a list of choices with arrow-key navigation.

Parameters:

Name Type Default Description
message str -- The question above the list.
choices list[str] \| list[dict] -- Plain strings or {"name": ..., "value": ...} dicts.
default str \| None None Value to pre-select. Defaults to first choice.
style Style \| None None Optional style customisation.

Returns: The value of the selected choice, or None if cancelled.

text(message, default="", validate=None, style=None)

Prompt the user for free-form text input.

Parameters:

Name Type Default Description
message str -- The question to display.
default str "" Default value (used on empty Enter).
validate Callable \| None None Callable (str) -> bool \| str. Return True to accept, or an error message string.
style Style \| None None Optional style customisation.

Returns: The entered string, or None if cancelled (Ctrl-C).

Style(style_list=None)

ANSI styling configuration for prompts.

Parameters:

Name Type Default Description
style_list list[tuple[str, str]] \| None None List of (role, style_string) tuples.

Recognised roles: "question", "answer", "pointer", "highlighted", "error", "instruction".

Style string format: Space-separated tokens: fg:#hexcolor, bg:#hexcolor, bold, italic, underline.

TTY Detection and Fallback

When running without a TTY (piped input, CI environments, etc.), the module automatically falls back to a numbered-list mode for select() and plain input() for other prompts. This makes scripts using prompt.py safe to run in non-interactive contexts.

Comparison with questionary

Feature zerodep prompt questionary
Dependencies None (stdlib only) prompt_toolkit
Files Single file Package (multiple files)
confirm / select / text Yes Yes
checkbox / password / path / autocomplete No Yes
Custom styling Yes (hex colors, bold, italic) Yes (via prompt_toolkit Style)
Non-TTY fallback Yes (automatic) Partial
Windows support Yes (via msvcrt) Yes (via prompt_toolkit)

When to use zerodep: You need basic interactive prompts (confirm, select, text) with zero dependencies and cross-platform support.

When to use questionary: You need advanced prompt types (checkbox, password, autocomplete) or the full power of prompt_toolkit.

Benchmark

No benchmark is provided for this module. Interactive prompts are bottlenecked by user input latency, not code execution -- see Prompt Benchmark for details.