feat: inform user about cli updates

.changes/unreleased/added-20251211-183425.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+kind: added
+body: Display a notification to users on login when a new fab cli version is available
+time: 2025-12-11T18:34:25.601088227+01:00

docs/essentials/settings.md

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ The Fabric CLI provides a comprehensive set of configuration settings that allow
 | Name                           | Description                                                                                 | Type       | Default |
 |--------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |------------|---------|
 | `cache_enabled`                | Toggles caching of CLI HTTP responses                           | `BOOLEAN`  | `true`  |
+| `check_cli_version_updates`                | Enables automatic update notifications on login                                            | `BOOLEAN`  | `true`  |
 | `debug_enabled`                | Toggles additional diagnostic logs for troubleshooting                                   | `BOOLEAN`  | `false` |
 | `context_persistence_enabled`  | Persists CLI navigation context in command line mode across sessions | `BOOLEAN` | `false` |
 | `encryption_fallback_enabled`  | Permits storing tokens in plain text if secure encryption is unavailable                  | `BOOLEAN`  | `false` |

src/fabric_cli/commands/auth/fab_auth.py

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from fabric_cli.core.fab_exceptions import FabricCLIError
 from fabric_cli.errors import ErrorMessages
 from fabric_cli.utils import fab_mem_store as utils_mem_store
-from fabric_cli.utils import fab_ui
+from fabric_cli.utils import fab_ui, fab_version_check
 
 
 def init(args: Namespace) -> Any:
@@ -199,7 +199,10 @@ def init(args: Namespace) -> Any:
         except KeyboardInterrupt:
             # User cancelled the authentication process
             return False
-        return True
+
+    fab_version_check.check_and_notify_update()
+
+    return True
 
 
 def logout(args: Namespace) -> None:

src/fabric_cli/core/fab_constant.py

@@ -91,6 +91,11 @@
 FAB_OUTPUT_FORMAT = "output_format"
 FAB_FOLDER_LISTING_ENABLED = "folder_listing_enabled"
 FAB_WS_PRIVATE_LINKS_ENABLED = "workspace_private_links_enabled"
+FAB_CHECK_UPDATES = "check_cli_version_updates"
+
+# Version check settings
+VERSION_CHECK_PYPI_URL = "https://pypi.org/pypi/ms-fabric-cli/json"
+VERSION_CHECK_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 3
 
 FAB_CONFIG_KEYS_TO_VALID_VALUES = {
     FAB_CACHE_ENABLED: ["false", "true"],
@@ -111,6 +116,7 @@
     FAB_OUTPUT_FORMAT: ["text", "json"],
     FAB_FOLDER_LISTING_ENABLED: ["false", "true"],
     FAB_WS_PRIVATE_LINKS_ENABLED: ["false", "true"],
+    FAB_CHECK_UPDATES: ["false", "true"],
     # Add more keys and their respective allowed values as needed
 }
 
@@ -127,6 +133,7 @@
     FAB_OUTPUT_FORMAT: "text",
     FAB_FOLDER_LISTING_ENABLED: "false",
     FAB_WS_PRIVATE_LINKS_ENABLED: "false",
+    FAB_CHECK_UPDATES: "true",
 }
 
 # Command descriptions

src/fabric_cli/utils/fab_version_check.py

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
+# Licensed under the MIT License.
+
+"""
+Version update checking for Fabric CLI.
+
+This module checks PyPI for newer versions of ms-fabric-cli and displays
+a notification to the user if an update is available.
+"""
+
+from typing import Optional
+
+import requests
+
+from fabric_cli import __version__
+from fabric_cli.core import fab_constant, fab_logger, fab_state_config
+from fabric_cli.utils import fab_ui
+
+
+def _fetch_latest_version_from_pypi() -> Optional[str]:
+    """
+    Fetch the latest version from PyPI JSON API.
+
+    Returns:
+        Latest version string if successful, None otherwise.
+    """
+    try:
+        response = requests.get(
+            fab_constant.VERSION_CHECK_PYPI_URL,
+            timeout=fab_constant.VERSION_CHECK_TIMEOUT_SECONDS
+        )
+        response.raise_for_status()
+        return response.json()["info"]["version"]
+    except (requests.RequestException, KeyError, ValueError, TypeError) as e:
+        # Silently fail - don't interrupt user experience for version checks
+        fab_logger.log_debug(f"Failed to fetch version from PyPI: {e}")
+        return None
+
+
+def _is_pypi_version_newer(pypi_version: str) -> bool:
+    """
+    Compare PyPI version with current version to determine if an update is available.
+
+    Args:
+        pypi_version: Version string from PyPI
+
+    Returns:
+        True if PyPI version is newer than current installed version
+    """
+    try:
+        # Parse versions as tuples (e.g., "1.3.0" -> (1, 3, 0))
+        current_parts = tuple(int(x) for x in __version__.split("."))
+        pypi_parts = tuple(int(x) for x in pypi_version.split("."))
+        return pypi_parts > current_parts
+    except (ValueError, AttributeError):
+        # Conservative: don't show notification version could not be parsed
+        return False
+
+
+def check_and_notify_update() -> None:
+    """
+    Check for CLI updates and display notification if a newer version is available.
+
+    This function:
+    - Respects user's check_updates config setting
+    - Checks PyPI on every login for the latest version
+    - Displays notification if an update is available
+    - Fails silently if PyPI is unreachable
+    """
+    check_enabled = fab_state_config.get_config(fab_constant.FAB_CHECK_UPDATES)
+    if check_enabled == "false":
+        fab_logger.log_debug("Version check disabled by user configuration")
+        return
+
+    fab_logger.log_debug("Checking PyPI for latest version")
+    latest_version = _fetch_latest_version_from_pypi()
+
+    if latest_version and _is_pypi_version_newer(latest_version):
+        msg = (
+            f"\n[notice] A new release of fab is available: {__version__} → {latest_version}\n"
+            "[notice] To update, run: pip install --upgrade ms-fabric-cli\n"
+        )
+        fab_ui.print_grey(msg)
+    elif latest_version:
+        fab_logger.log_debug(f"Already on latest version: {__version__}")
+    else:
+        fab_logger.log_debug("Could not fetch latest version from PyPI")

tests/test_commands/conftest.py

@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ def vcr_instance(vcr_mode, request):
         before_record_response=process_response,
         path_transformer=vcr.VCR.ensure_suffix(".yaml"),
         match_on=["method", "uri", "json_body"],
-        ignore_hosts=["login.microsoftonline.com"],
+        ignore_hosts=["login.microsoftonline.com", "pypi.org"],
     )
 
     set_vcr_mode_env(vcr_mode)