ariadne

What it is and what it does

Ariadne is a GraphQL server library that lets you define your API schema first using GraphQL Schema Definition Language, then attach Python resolver functions to handle queries, mutations, and subscriptions. It emphasizes a clean, modular API that avoids global state and boilerplate, making it straightforward to implement GraphQL endpoints in Python applications.

The library integrates directly with popular ASGI and WSGI frameworks—FastAPI, Starlette, Django, Flask—so you can embed a GraphQL API into an existing web application or build one from scratch. It supports async resolvers and generators for subscriptions, custom scalars and directives, file uploads, and federation patterns. It also includes built-in GraphiQL explorer for development and optional OpenTelemetry tracing for monitoring.

Use it for:

• Build a GraphQL API endpoint in a FastAPI or Starlette application with schema-first design and async resolvers
• Add GraphQL federation support to combine multiple GraphQL services into a single unified API
• Implement real-time subscriptions using async generators or WebSocket handlers for live data updates
• Integrate with SQLAlchemy 2.0 models to automatically generate resolvers and prevent N+1 query problems
• Deploy a GraphQL server as an AWS Lambda function using the Ariadne Lambda integration

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Ariadne is a Python library for building GraphQL servers using a schema-first approach, with support for async resolvers, subscriptions, and integrations with ASGI/WSGI frameworks like FastAPI, Django, and Starlette.

Yes. Ariadne is actively maintained, production-stable, has no known vulnerabilities, and offers low install friction. It is well-suited for teams adopting schema-first GraphQL development in Python. Choose it if you want a modular, framework-agnostic approach to GraphQL servers with strong async support and clean API design.

Install

ariadne on PyPI

pip install ariadne

uv add ariadne

poetry add ariadne

Installing ariadne

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent release (60 days ago) and ongoing repository activity. Requires Python 3.10 or higher.

License in practice

BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for most projects.

Quickstart

pip install ariadne

from ariadne import QueryType, gql, make_executable_schema
from ariadne.asgi import GraphQL

type_defs = gql("""
    type Query {
        hello: String
    }
""")

query = QueryType()
@query.field("hello")
def resolve_hello(*_):
    return "Hello world"

schema = make_executable_schema(type_defs, query)
app = GraphQL(schema, debug=True)

Requires Python 3.10 or higher. To run the ASGI app, you also need an ASGI server like uvicorn.

Verify before relying

• Whether SQLAlchemy 2.0 integration requires additional setup or is automatically available
• Performance characteristics when handling large subscription volumes or complex nested queries
• Specific OpenTelemetry instrumentation overhead in production environments

Package facts

Evidence: ariadne-1.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: api, asgi, asyncio, dataloaders, django, fastapi, federation, flask, graphql, opentelemetry, relay, schema, schema-first, sdl, sse, starlette, subscriptions, tracing, websockets, wsgi

Tags

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