---
id: dropbox
version: "12.2.1"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# dropbox — Official Dropbox API Client

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 2.3M/mo

## What it is and what it does

The Dropbox SDK is the official Python client for interacting with Dropbox's file storage and account APIs. It handles OAuth authentication (including PKCE flows), file uploads and downloads, folder operations, and account metadata retrieval. The library wraps Dropbox's REST API, abstracting HTTP details behind Python objects and methods.

The package depends on requests for HTTP communication and stone for API specification handling. It targets modern Python versions (3.11+) and is actively maintained by Dropbox, with recent updates addressing API server certificate changes. Installation is straightforward via pip, and the library includes examples for common workflows like OAuth flows and bulk file operations.

Use it for:

- Build applications that upload files to Dropbox programmatically, such as backup tools or data sync utilities.
- Implement OAuth-based authentication flows to allow users to grant your app access to their Dropbox accounts.
- Automate file management tasks like listing, moving, or deleting files within Dropbox folders.
- Retrieve account metadata and file information for reporting or auditing purposes.
- Develop backup and restore functionality that leverages Dropbox's versioning capabilities.

## Worth the install?

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

Official Python client library for the Dropbox API, enabling programmatic access to Dropbox file operations, authentication, and account management.

Yes. The Dropbox SDK is the official, actively maintained client library with low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, and permissive licensing. Install it if you need to integrate Dropbox into a Python application. The only consideration is the hard requirement for Python 3.11 or newer; if your project targets earlier versions, you cannot use this package.

## Install

pip install dropbox
uv add dropbox
poetry add dropbox

## Installing dropbox

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent release (25 days old) and ongoing repository activity. Requires Python 3.11 or newer; earlier versions are no longer supported.

License in practice: MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install dropbox

import dropbox

dbx = dropbox.Dropbox(oauth2_access_token='YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN')
dbx.files_list_folder('/')

Requires Python 3.11 or newer. Versions 12.0.2 or newer are required for compatibility with current Dropbox API servers; older versions stopped working in January 2026.

Verify before relying:

- Specific API endpoint coverage and completeness relative to the full Dropbox API surface.
- Performance characteristics and rate-limiting behavior under high-volume usage.
- Whether stone dependency is a compiled extension or pure Python.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 2.3M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

dropbox api client python, dropbox file upload download, dropbox sdk python, dropbox authentication oauth, dropbox account management, dropbox api integration, dropbox file operations, api-client, oauth, cloud-storage

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