---
id: arcade-tdk
version: "3.10.1"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# arcade-tdk — Arcade TDK - Toolkit Development Kit for building Arcade tools

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 413.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Arcade TDK is a development toolkit for building tools that work within the Arcade ecosystem. It provides a simple @tool decorator that automatically registers functions as Arcade tools, along with authentication helpers, type annotations, and parameter validation powered by Pydantic. The toolkit is designed to reduce boilerplate when creating tools that need to integrate with arcade-core components.

The package targets developers building Arcade tools, especially those requiring authentication or complex parameter validation. It depends on arcade-core for integration and pydantic for type safety. With low install friction and active maintenance, it's positioned as a foundational library for the Arcade tool ecosystem.

Use it for:

- Define reusable Arcade tools with the @tool decorator and automatic registration.
- Add authentication to tools using built-in auth providers like Reddit with scoped permissions.
- Validate tool parameters using Pydantic type annotations and Annotated metadata.
- Build a toolkit catalog by composing multiple decorated tools for integration with arcade-core.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Arcade TDK provides decorators, authentication helpers, and type annotations for building and testing Arcade tools that integrate with arcade-core.

Yes, if you're building tools for the Arcade ecosystem. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, uses a permissive MIT license, and requires only two lightweight dependencies. The @tool decorator and auth helpers reduce boilerplate significantly. Install only if you're committed to using Arcade; it's a specialized toolkit, not a general-purpose library.

## Install

pip install arcade-tdk
uv add arcade-tdk
poetry add arcade-tdk

## Installing arcade-tdk

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure Python wheel. Active maintenance status with a release 4 days ago. Depends only on arcade-core and pydantic, both lightweight runtime dependencies.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute this package with minimal restrictions, provided you include the license notice.

Quickstart:

pip install arcade-tdk

from typing import Annotated
from arcade_tdk import tool

@tool
def hello_world(name: Annotated[str, "The name of the person to greet"]) -> str:
    return f"Hello, {name}!"

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether arcade-core is stable and actively maintained (not stated in this fact sheet)
- Whether the @tool decorator and auth providers cover the most common Arcade use cases

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 413.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

arcade tool development kit, build arcade tools, tool decorator framework, arcade authentication helpers, arcade toolkit builder, arcade-ecosystem, tool-building

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/arcade-tdk) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/arcade-tdk/)