# Cement Framework

Cement is an advanced CLI Application Framework for Python. Its goal is to introduce a standard, and feature-full platform for both simple and complex command line applications as well as support rapid development needs without sacrificing quality. Cement is flexible, and it’s use cases span from the simplicity of a micro-framework to the complexity of a mega-framework. Whether it’s a single file script, or a multi-tier application, Cement is the foundation you’ve been looking for.

The first commit to Git was on Dec 4, 2009. Since then, the framework has seen several iterations in design, and has continued to grow and improve since it’s inception. Cement is the most stable, and complete framework for command line and backend application development.

Core features include (but are not limited to):

> - Core pieces of the framework are customizable via handlers/interfaces
> - Extension handler interface to easily extend framework functionality
> - Config handler supports parsing multiple config files into one config
> - Argument handler parses command line arguments and merges with config
> - Log handler supports console and file logging
> - Plugin handler provides an interface to easily extend your application
> - Hook support adds a bit of magic to apps and also ties into framework
> - Handler system connects implementation classes with Interfaces
> - Output handler interface renders return dictionaries to console
> - Cache handler interface adds caching support for improved performance
> - Controller handler supports sub-commands, and nested controllers
> - Zero external dependencies* of the core library
> - 100% test coverage using `nose` and `coverage`
> - 100% PEP8 and style compliant using `flake8`
> - Extensive Sphinx documentation
> - Tested on Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5

Note that argparse is required as an external dependency for Python < 2.7 and < 3.2. Additionally, some optional extensions that are shipped with the mainline Cement sources do require external dependencies. It is the responsibility of the application developer to include these dependencies along with their application if they intend to use any optional extensions that have external dependencies, as Cement explicitly does not include them.

## Getting More Information

> - DOCS: http://builtoncement.com/2.10/
> - CODE: http://github.com/datafolklabs/cement/
> - PYPI: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/cement/
> - SITE: http://builtoncement.com/
> - T-CI: http://travis-ci.org/datafolklabs/cement
> - HELP: cement@librelist.org - #cement - gitter.im/datafolklabs/cement

## Mailing List

Sign up for the Cement Framework mailing list to recieve updates regarding new releases, important features, and other related news. This not an open email thread, but rather an extremely minimal, low noise announcement only list. You can unsubscribe at any time.

## Documentation

- ChangeLog
- Contributors
- Upgrading
- What’s New
- Projects Built on Cement™
- Frequenty Asked Questions
- API Reference

- Developer Documentation
  - Installation
  - Quick Start
  - Interfaces and Handlers
  - Configuration Handling
  - Argument and Option Handling
  - Log Handling
  - Output Handling
  - Application Controllers
  - Framework Extensions
  - Application Plugins
  - Framework and Application Hooks
  - Extending CementApp
  - Signal Handling
  - Application Cleanup
  - Caching
  - Sending Email Messages
  - Unit Testing Your Application
  - Application Design
  - Starting Projects from Boss Templates
  - Contributing

- Examples
  - Adding a Version Option to Your App
  - Multiple Stacked Controllers
  - Abstract Base Controllers for Shared Arguments and Commands
  - Multiple Controllers With Same Label
  - BASH Auto Completion
  - Handling Arbitrary Extra Positional Arguments
  - Auto Reload When Configuration Files Change
  - Tabularized Output
  - Reload Application on SIGHUP
  - Managing Multiple Environments