{"categories":[{"label":"Libraries","url":"https://skillfed.io/packages/category/software-development-libraries/2"},{"label":"Scientific/Engineering","url":"https://skillfed.io/packages/category/scientific-engineering"}],"enrichment":{"capability":"Pooch downloads files from HTTP, FTP, and data repositories (Zenodo, figshare), caches them locally, and verifies integrity via hash checking\u2014eliminating manual file management and urllib boilerplate.","skillfed_tags":["data-distribution","reproducible-research","caching"],"use_cases":["Download sample datasets for documentation or tutorials without embedding large files in your package repository.","Distribute versioned data files with your Python package, automatically fetching them on first use.","Verify downloaded files against known hashes to detect corruption or tampering.","Host data on Zenodo or figshare and reference it by DOI instead of managing URLs.","Implement reproducible research workflows where colleagues run the same code and get identical data.","Cache remote data locally to avoid re-downloading during repeated script runs or development iterations."],"what_it_does":"Pooch is a Python library that handles the tedious parts of downloading and caching data files. It sits between your code and the network, fetching files only when needed, storing them locally, and verifying they haven't been corrupted or replaced. It supports HTTP, FTP, and DOI-based downloads from repositories like Zenodo and figshare, with built-in hash verification to ensure reproducibility.\n\nFor scientists and researchers, Pooch automates the distribution of sample datasets\u2014you can host data on a repository and let your package download it automatically, ensuring everyone using your code has the same version of the data. For package developers, it provides a clean API to manage versioned data caches without forcing users to manually download files or deal with urllib and requests directly.","worth_installing":"Yes. Pooch is production-stable (Development Status 5), actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and is already trusted by major scientific Python projects (SciPy, scikit-image, xarray, napari, and others). Install it if you need to download, cache, and verify data files in any Python project\u2014it eliminates boilerplate and adds reproducibility with minimal overhead."},"id":"pooch","links":{"html":"https://skillfed.io/packages/pooch","md":"https://skillfed.io/packages/pooch.md","pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/pooch/"},"maintenance":{"status":"active"},"meta":{"latest_release":"2026-01-30","license_spdx":"BSD-3-Clause","license_treatment":"permissive","name":"pooch","python_support":"supports_current","summary":"A friend to fetch your data files"},"popularity":{"monthly_downloads":16960613,"position":1134,"tier":"top_5000"},"security":{"n_vulnerabilities":0},"version":"1.9.0"}