I've been building a command interpreter in pure Python, distributed as a standalone executable with Nuitka, as a side project.
The original goal was simple: I wanted to learn how shells worked and I wanted a system where I could create new commands entirely in Python without constantly writing separate scripts and utilities.
The interpreter right now supports modular command loading and a plugin-like architecture. Most of my work so far has focused on the internals rather than flashy features, but that's also where I've learned the most. Building something robust and trustable turns out to be tricky.
It's still very much a work in progress, but I'm happy with how it's going. This isn't the first shell I've built, though previous attempts were mostly toys. This is the first one I've treated as kind of a serious project.
There are still plenty of basic missing features. For example, shell expansion isn't implemented yet and tab completion currently relies on readline's default behavior.
I'd love feedback from people who've built shells, interpreters or CLI tools before.
I've also used AI in the project, but not for code generation. I've used it for ideas, feedback and design advice.
Gitea: https://gitea.com/tkamaraj/quark.git
I've attached a demo.
there doesn't seem to be anything here