Python Standard Library Integration

Relevant source files

• docs/source/logging.rst
• docs/source/traceback.rst
• rich/_log_render.py
• rich/errors.py
• rich/logging.py
• rich/pretty.py
• rich/region.py
• rich/repr.py
• rich/syntax.py
• rich/traceback.py
• tests/test_log.py
• tests/test_logging.py
• tests/test_pretty.py
• tests/test_repr.py
• tests/test_syntax.py

This page provides an overview of Rich's integrations with Python's standard library. It covers five subsystems: structured logging output, enhanced tracebacks, pretty-printed object display, runtime object inspection, and interactive prompts. Each subsystem is documented in detail in its own child page; this page explains the shared patterns, entry points, and how the subsystems relate to one another.

This page does not cover the core rendering pipeline, markup syntax, or built-in renderables. For those topics, see the Core Rendering System and Renderables pages.

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Scope of Integrations

Rich hooks into several Python standard library mechanisms:

Standard Library Hook	Rich Module	Primary Class / Function
logging.Handler	rich/logging.py	RichHandler
sys.excepthook	rich/traceback.py	install(), Traceback
sys.displayhook	rich/pretty.py	install(), Pretty
Object __repr__ protocol	rich/repr.py	auto, rich_repr
Interactive input	rich/prompt.py	Prompt, Confirm

In each case, Rich either subclasses or replaces a standard library hook, then routes output through a Console instance so that all of Rich's styling, markup, and export features remain available.

Sources: rich/logging.py1-16 rich/traceback.py84-219 rich/pretty.py171-251 rich/repr.py1-15

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Architecture Overview

Module relationship diagram

Sources: rich/logging.py92-115 rich/traceback.py131-165 rich/pretty.py195-226 rich/_log_render.py14-86

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Logging Integration

RichHandler in rich/logging.py18-239 is a subclass of logging.Handler. It replaces the plain-text log output with a structured table rendered through a Console.

The handler delegates layout to LogRender (rich/_log_render.py14-86), which builds a Table.grid() with up to four columns:

Column	Controlled By	Default
Time	show_time	True
Level	show_level	True
Message	always present	—
File path / line	show_path	True

When rich_tracebacks=True is set, exception records are rendered by Traceback.from_exception() instead of the standard formatter, integrating Pygments-highlighted code frames directly into the log output.

Per-message overrides are supported via the extra dict on log calls (e.g. extra={"markup": True} or extra={"highlighter": None}).

For full details, see Logging Integration.

Sources: rich/logging.py18-115 rich/_log_render.py14-86 docs/source/logging.rst1-71

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Traceback Enhancement

rich/traceback.py provides two entry points:

• install() (rich/traceback.py84-218) — replaces sys.excepthook (and IPython's _showtraceback) with a callable that renders Traceback for every uncaught exception.
• Traceback (rich/traceback.py262-350) — a Console renderable that can be constructed directly from exception info via Traceback.from_exception() or Traceback.extract().

Data model for extracted exception info

Traceback integrates with pretty.traverse() to render local variable values as structured pretty-printed trees when show_locals=True. The suppress parameter accepts a list of modules or directory paths; frames from those paths are shown with file/line info only, without source code.

For full details, see Traceback Enhancement.

Sources: rich/traceback.py221-256 rich/traceback.py295-350 docs/source/traceback.rst1-98

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Pretty Printing and REPL

rich/pretty.py provides pretty-printing of arbitrary Python objects. The key public API is:

Symbol	Kind	Purpose
Pretty	class	Renderable wrapper around any object
pretty_repr()	function	Returns a formatted str repr
pprint()	function	Prints directly to a Console
install()	function	Replaces sys.displayhook for REPL use
traverse()	function	Builds an internal Node tree from an object

The Pretty class implements __rich_console__ by calling pretty_repr() and passing the result through Text.from_ansi() and ReprHighlighter. Width-aware line breaking is controlled by the Node / _Line tree representation built inside traverse().

install() (rich/pretty.py171-250) checks for an active IPython session; in a standard REPL it replaces sys.displayhook, while inside IPython it installs a custom BaseFormatter subclass (RichFormatter) that hooks into IPython's display formatter pipeline.

Object traversal and rendering pipeline

The __rich_repr__ protocol, defined in rich/repr.py, lets any class provide structured field data that traverse() uses instead of the default repr() call. The auto decorator (rich/repr.py37-101) automatically generates both __rich_repr__ (from __init__ signature) and __repr__ (from __rich_repr__).

For full details, see Pretty Printing and REPL.

Sources: rich/pretty.py171-355 rich/repr.py37-101 rich/pretty.py580-915

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Object Inspection

rich/inspect.py exposes the Inspect renderable and the inspect() convenience function (callable as from rich import inspect). It displays an object's attributes, methods, and docstrings in a formatted table, with per-attribute type annotations and values rendered through the Pretty system.

Parameters control which members are shown:

Parameter	Controls
methods	Instance methods
docs	Docstrings
private	_-prefixed members
dunder	__-prefixed members
all	All of the above
value	The object's own repr at the top
sort	Alphabetical ordering

For full details, see Inspecting Objects.

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Prompts

rich/prompt.py provides PromptBase and concrete subclasses Prompt, IntPrompt, FloatPrompt, and Confirm. These render styled prompts through a Console and handle validation via process_response(), retrying on invalid input and raising InvalidResponse internally.

The ask() class method is a one-shot shortcut:

Prompt.ask("Enter your name")
Confirm.ask("Continue?")

password=True masks input, and choices restricts acceptable values with automatic display of the valid set.

For full details, see Prompts.

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Shared Patterns

All five subsystems follow the same conventions:

1. Console injection — every integration accepts an optional Console argument. If none is provided, get_console() from rich/__init__.py returns the global singleton.

2. install() pattern — both rich.traceback and rich.pretty expose an install() function that replaces a sys-level hook and returns the previous hook so it can be restored.

3. Traceback reuse — RichHandler in rich/logging.py delegates exception rendering to Traceback.from_exception() rather than re-implementing it, so tracebacks in log output and in uncaught-exception output look identical.

4. Pretty / traverse() reuse — Traceback.extract() calls pretty.traverse() to capture local variable state into Node trees at extract time (rich/traceback.py579-594), so locals are serialised when the exception occurs rather than at render time.

Sources: rich/logging.py132-180 rich/traceback.py576-597 rich/pretty.py171-200 rich/traceback.py84-103