CLI & backends

Command line & backend registry¶

The rle CLI¶

Installing rle-python provides an rle command (a small Typer app):

rle --version        # print the installed version
rle backends         # list installed data-access backends
rle --help

rle backends prints one row per registered backend — its name, capability, and the distribution that provides it — sorted by capability then name.

The backend registry¶

Backends are advertised through the rle.backends entry-point group. Each entry point is a callable that returns one or more BackendInfo records. rle-python registers its own core backends, and optional distributions such as rle-python-gee register theirs into the same namespace.

The registry is for discovery and introspection only — it is how the CLI and your own code can enumerate what is installed. There is no auto-dispatch: you still construct backend classes explicitly (e.g. Ecosystems.from_file(...) or from rle.gee import GeeEcosystems).

from rle.core import iter_backends, list_backends

print(list_backends())
for b in iter_backends():
    print(f"{b.name:<12} {b.capability:<11} {b.distribution}")

['cog', 'file', 'geoparquet']
file         ecosystems  rle-python
geoparquet   ecosystems  rle-python
cog          ecosystems  rle-python

BackendInfo is a frozen dataclass with these fields:

Entry points that fail to load or run are skipped silently, so a broken optional backend never breaks discovery of the others.

Registering your own backend¶

A distribution advertises backends by pointing an rle.backends entry point at a callable that returns BackendInfo records. For example, in pyproject.toml:

[project.entry-points."rle.backends"]
mypackage = "mypackage._entrypoints:register"

# mypackage/_entrypoints.py
from rle.core import BackendInfo
from mypackage import MyEcosystems

def register():
    return [
        BackendInfo(
            name="my-backend",
            cls=MyEcosystems,
            capability="ecosystems",
            distribution="mypackage",
        ),
    ]

Once installed, it appears in rle backends and list_backends().