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tonybaloney/wily

A command-line tool that walks git history and tracks how complexity and code metrics of Python code change over time.

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What is it?

Wily is a command-line application for measuring Python code over time. It uses git to step through each revision in a branch and runs complexity and code-analysis metrics on the files at every commit, storing the results in a local cache under a .wily/ directory.

With that cache, you can report how a metric such as cyclomatic complexity, maintainability index, Halstead measures or lines of code changed between revisions, rank files by a metric, or open a graph of the trend in a browser. The diff command compares the current files against a chosen git ref, which makes it usable as a pre-commit hook or a CI check.

Metrics are grouped into operators (cyclomatic, cognitive, maintainability, halstead and raw), configurable through a wily.cfg file. Jupyter notebooks are scanned by default, with an option to report per cell.

Key features

  • 01Builds a metric cache by walking git commits in a branch.
  • 02Reports metric deltas between revisions with wily report.
  • 03Ranks files in a directory by a chosen metric.
  • 04Plots metric trends in a browser with wily graph.
  • 05Compares current code against any git ref using wily diff.
  • 06Scans Python code inside .ipynb notebooks, optionally per cell.

Use cases

  • Tracking whether a Python codebase is getting more complex over its commit history.
  • Failing a CI or pre-commit check when a change increases complexity against a previous revision.
  • Finding the most complex files in a project to prioritize refactoring.
  • Monitoring code quality trends in data science projects built on Jupyter notebooks.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Install wily from PyPI with pip

    pip install wily
  2. 2

    Build the wily cache for your source folder inside a git repo

    wily build src/
  3. 3

    Report changes in complexity for the analysed files

    wily report src/

Things to know

  • Analyses Python code only.
  • Requires a git repository to track history, and the working copy must be clean to build the cache.

In collections

CLI & terminal toolsOpenTelemetry & observability platforms

Topics

#python#code-quality#complexity#static-analysis#git#cli#metrics#hacktoberfest#hacktoberfest-accepted#quality

FAQ

What is wily?
A command-line tool that walks git history and tracks how complexity and code metrics of Python code change over time. Wily is a command-line application for measuring Python code over time. It uses git to step through each revision in a branch and runs complexity and code-analysis metrics on the files at every commit, storing the results in a local cache under a .wily/ directory.
Is wily free to use? What license does it have?
wily is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is wily still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to wily was on Oct 28, 2026.
What can I use wily for?
Tracking whether a Python codebase is getting more complex over its commit history. Failing a CI or pre-commit check when a change increases complexity against a previous revision. Finding the most complex files in a project to prioritize refactoring. Monitoring code quality trends in data science projects built on Jupyter notebooks.
How do I install wily?
Install wily from PyPI with pip: pip install wily Build the wily cache for your source folder inside a git repo: wily build src/ Report changes in complexity for the analysed files: wily report src/
Where can I get wily?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/tonybaloney/wily

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