pkg-helper

pkg-helper

Package Manager Helper — a CLI and TUI tool for inspecting Python (pip), npm, cargo, go, and other package ecosystems. Zero external dependencies; uses only subprocess to query system package managers.

Features

• pkg-helper pip list — List installed pip packages with versions
• pkg-helper pip search <term> — Search pip packages by name
• pkg-helper pip outdated — Show outdated pip packages
• pkg-helper pip deps <package> — Show dependency tree of a pip package
• pkg-helper pip freeze [output] — Export installed packages to requirements.txt
• pkg-helper npm list — List global npm packages
• pkg-helper check — Check if pip, npm, cargo, go, gem, brew are installed
• pkg-helper size <package> — Estimate installed size of a pip package
• pkg-helper --tui — Launch the curses-based interactive TUI

Installation

# Install from source
cd /root/evolver-packages/pkg-helper
pip install -e .

# Or directly via pip (once published)
pip install pkg-helper

Usage

CLI Examples

# List installed pip packages
pkg-helper pip list

# Search for a package
pkg-helper pip search requests

# Check for outdated packages
pkg-helper pip outdated

# Show a package's dependency tree
pkg-helper pip deps flask

# Freeze current environment to requirements.txt
pkg-helper pip freeze
pkg-helper pip freeze custom-requirements.txt

# List global npm packages
pkg-helper npm list

# Check which tools are installed
pkg-helper check

# Estimate package size
pkg-helper size numpy

# Launch the interactive TUI
pkg-helper --tui

TUI Mode

The TUI (pkg-helper --tui) provides a full curses-based interface with:

Key	Action
↑ / ↓	Navigate package list
k / j	Navigate (vim-style)
Enter	View package details
/	Search packages
o	Toggle outdated view
r	Refresh package list
h	Help screen
q / Esc	Back / Quit

The TUI shows installed pip packages with:

• Package name and version
• Outdated indicator (! latest_version) — packages with newer versions are highlighted in yellow
• Detail view — full pip show output with scrolling
• Search — searches via pip index versions
• Outdated view — aggregated view of all outdated packages

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• No external Python dependencies (uses subprocess to call pip, npm, etc.)
• pip is required for pip-related commands
• npm is required for npm-related commands (optional)
• cargo, go, gem, brew are optional — pkg-helper check will report their status

Project Structure

pkg-helper/
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
└── src/
    └── pkg_helper/
        ├── __init__.py      # Package metadata
        ├── __main__.py      # python -m pkg_helper support
        ├── cli.py           # CLI argument parsing and command implementations
        └── tui.py           # Curses-based TUI application

License

MIT