AttributeError: 'function' object has no attribute 'name' when using Click to create Hierarchical command groups

Question

I am trying to create a command line application with hierarchical commands (my sub-commands will have sub-commands). However, when I attempt a very basic application, I get an AttributeError.

I am able to replicate this with a simple example.

Directory layout:

.
├── cli.py
└── commands
    ├── config_cmds.py
    ├── __init__.py

cli.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import sys
import click


from commands.config_cmds import configcmd

@click.group()
@click.version_option()
def cli(args=None):
    """A command line application"""
    return 0

cli.add_command(configcmd)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    sys.exit(cli())  # pragma: no cover

config_cmds.py

import click

@click.group
@click.version_option()
def configcmd():
    """Configuration management for this CLI"""
    click.echo("In config")

If I run this application, I get the following error:

$ python cli.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "cli.py", line 15, in <module>
    cli.add_command(configcmd)
  File "/home/frank/.virtualenvs/clitest/lib/python3.6/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1221, in add_command
    name = name or cmd.name
AttributeError: 'function' object has no attribute 'name'

My directory structure is set up based on this answer.

I am using python 3.6 and Click version 7.0.

How do I resolve this attribute error so that I can have a hierarchy of commands and keep the commands split into multiple files?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '19 at 21:28

You need to call the click.group() decorator like:

@click.group()
@click.version_option()
def configcmd():
    """Configuration management for this CLI"""
    click.echo("In config")

Test Code:

import sys
import click

from commands.config_cmd import configcmd


@click.group()
@click.version_option()
def cli(args=None):
    """A command line application"""
    return 0


cli.add_command(configcmd)


@configcmd.command()
def test_cmd():
    click.echo('In test_cmd')


if __name__ == "__main__":
    commands = (
        'configcmd test_cmd',
        'configcmd --help',
        '--help',
        '',
    )

    import sys, time

    time.sleep(1)
    print('Click Version: {}'.format(click.__version__))
    print('Python Version: {}'.format(sys.version))
    for cmd in commands:
        try:
            time.sleep(0.1)
            print('-----------')
            print('> ' + cmd)
            time.sleep(0.1)
            cli(cmd.split())

        except BaseException as exc:
            if str(exc) != '0' and \
                    not isinstance(exc, (click.ClickException, SystemExit)):
                raise

Results:

Click Version: 6.7
Python Version: 3.6.3 (v3.6.3:2c5fed8, Oct  3 2017, 18:11:49) [MSC v.1900 64 bit (AMD64)]
-----------
> configcmd test_cmd
In config
In test_cmd
-----------
> configcmd --help
Usage: test.py configcmd [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  Configuration management for this CLI

Options:
  --version  Show the version and exit.
  --help     Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  test_cmd
-----------
> --help
Usage: test.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  A command line application

Options:
  --version  Show the version and exit.
  --help     Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  configcmd  Configuration management for this CLI
-----------
> 
Usage: test.py [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

  A command line application

Options:
  --version  Show the version and exit.
  --help     Show this message and exit.

Commands:
  configcmd  Configuration management for this CLI