def dict_strs_to_dict(*dict_strs):
    """
    Parses a list of key:value strings into a dict. Used to go from CLI->Python.
    """
    d = {}
    for dict_str in dict_strs:
        try:
            k, v = dict_str.split(':', 1)
        except ValueError:
            raise ValueError(
                "can't parse string '{0}': must have format 'key:value'".
                format(dict_str))
        d[k] = v
    return d
