Your gateway to cosmos — Query astronomical data from command line

Astro CLI (working title: suggestions welcome!) is a modern command-line tool that provides quick access to multiple astronomical data services through the Astroquery library. It's designed for astronomers, researchers, and anyone who needs to query astronomical databases efficiently from the terminal.

17 data sources. One command. Beautiful output. Multi-language support. Extensible for future services.

Query data from 17 different astronomical databases and services:

• 📦 Multi-Source Access: Query 17+ astronomical databases from a single interface
• 🌏 Internationalized UI: Built-in support for English, Chinese (Simplified), and Japanese
• 📊 Rich Output: Beautifully formatted tables with support for exporting to CSV, ECSV, FITS, and more
• ⚡ Smart Defaults: Sensible defaults with extensive customization options
• 🔍 Service Health: Built-in connectivity testing (--ping) and field validation (--field)
• 🧑‍💻 Shell Completion: Auto-completion support for Bash, Zsh, and Fish
• 🌌 Extensible: Easy to add new astronomical data services

Requires: Node.js ≥18 and Python 3.11+

# Using pnpm (recommended)
pnpm astrocli --help

# Using npx
npx astrocli --help

# Example: Query SIMBAD for M31
pnpm astrocli simbad object "M31"

• AC_PYTHON - Specify Python interpreter path
• AC_VENV_DIR - Custom virtual environment cache directory (default: ~/.cache/astrocli)
• AC_FORCE_INSTALL=1 - Force reinstall/upgrade Python dependencies
• AC_DEBUG - Enable debug mode
• AC_LANG - Set default language (en/zh/ja)

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/astrocli.git
cd astrocli
pip install -e .

# Show all available modules and commands
astrocli --help

# Show help for a specific module
astrocli <module> --help

astrocli simbad object "M31"
astrocli simbad object "Crab Nebula" --show-all-cols

# Find catalogs by keywords
astrocli vizier find-catalogs --keyword photometry --keyword galaxy

# Query a specific catalog
astrocli vizier object "M31" --radius 0.1 --catalog "I/261/gaiadr3"

# Query a variable star by name
astrocli aavso object "SS Cyg"

# Search variable stars in a sky region
astrocli aavso region 196.421 18.018 --radius 0.5

# Get results in JSON format
astrocli aavso object "T CrB" --format json

# Query Fermi data for a target
astrocli fermi object "Crab Nebula" --energy "1000,100000" --dates "2020-01-01 00:00:00, 2020-01-02 00:00:00"

# Clear Fermi cache
astrocli fermi clear-cache

astrocli ads search --title "exoplanet detection"
astrocli ads bibcode "2023A&A...555..959W"

Change output language on-the-fly:

astrocli --lang zh simbad object "M31"    # Chinese
astrocli --lang ja simbad object "M31"    # Japanese
astrocli --lang en simbad object "M31"    # English

Install completion for your shell:

astrocli --install-completion bash   # Bash
astrocli --install-completion zsh    # Zsh
astrocli --install-completion fish   # Fish

Add this to your shell config (e.g., ~/.zshrc):

# For zsh
eval "$(astrocli --install-completion zsh)"

# For bash
eval "$(astrocli --install-completion bash)"

Save query results to file:

astrocli simbad object "M31" --output-file results.csv

# Specify format explicitly
astrocli simbad object "M31" --output-file data.ecsv --output-format ecsv

Supported formats: csv, ecsv, fits, votable, html, latex, ascii

Check if all data services are accessible:

astrocli --ping

astrocli/
├── astrocli/
│   ├── modules/           # Service-specific modules
│   │   ├── simbad_cli.py
│   │   ├── vizier_cli.py
│   │   ├── aavso_cli.py      # NEW: AAVSO VSX
│   │   ├── fermi_cli.py       # NEW: Fermi-LAT
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── utils.py            # Common utilities
│   ├── common_options.py   # Shared CLI options
│   ├── i18n.py            # Internationalization
│   └── main.py            # CLI entry point
├── locales/                # Translation files
│   ├── zh/LC_MESSAGES/
│   ├── ja/LC_MESSAGES/
│   └── en/LC_MESSAGES/
├── package.json           # pnpm/npx configuration
├── pyproject.toml         # Python package config
└── README.md

1. Create modules/<service>_cli.py following existing patterns
2. Import in main.py's setup_subcommands()
3. Add to README module list
4. Add translations to locales/ directories

BSD 3-Clause License

This project uses Astroquery, which is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License.

• Astroquery - Core library for astronomical data access
• Typer - Modern CLI framework
• Rich - Beautiful terminal output
• AAVSO - American Association of Variable Star Observers
• Fermi Team - Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

If you were previously using astroquery-cli, simply change your command:

# Old command
aqc simbad object "M31"

# New command
astrocli simbad object "M31"

All aliases remain the same: sim for simbad, viz for vizier, spl for splatalogue, etc.