---
id: flyteidl
version: "1.16.8"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# flyteidl — IDL for Flyte Platform

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 758.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Flyteidl is the core specification layer for Flyte, a workflow orchestration platform. It defines the protobuf message schemas and gRPC service interfaces that make up Flyte's backend API contract. The package contains auto-generated Python client code built from these protobuf definitions, along with the Golang clients for Flyte's administrative services.

Developers typically use flyteidl when they need to programmatically construct, serialize, or deserialize Flyte workflow specifications and API requests—either directly when building custom Flyte integrations, or indirectly through higher-level Flyte client libraries. The package depends on protobuf, googleapis-common-protos, and protoc-gen-openapiv2 to provide the runtime message handling and protocol support.

Use it for:

- Building custom Flyte workflow specifications programmatically by constructing protobuf message objects.
- Integrating with Flyte's backend admin API to submit, monitor, or manage workflows and tasks.
- Developing Flyte plugins or extensions that need to interact with the platform's core data structures.
- Serializing and deserializing Flyte workflow definitions for storage or transmission.
- Generating or consuming Flyte API payloads in gRPC or REST contexts.

## Worth the install?

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

Flyteidl provides the protobuf-based IDL (Interface Definition Language) and generated Python client code for Flyte's backend APIs, enabling programmatic interaction with Flyte's workflow orchestration platform.

Yes, if you are building custom integrations with Flyte or need direct programmatic access to Flyte's backend API. Install it as a dependency of a higher-level Flyte client library (such as flyte-sdk) if you are a typical end user. The package is actively maintained, permissively licensed, has low install friction, and carries no known vulnerabilities.

## Install

pip install flyteidl
uv add flyteidl
poetry add flyteidl

## Installing flyteidl

Before you install: Low friction install with a pure-wheel distribution. Actively maintained as of 2026-08-14 with regular releases; the project has 7203 stars and sits in the top 15000 PyPI packages by download volume.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 is a permissive license; you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects, provided you include a copy of the license and note any material changes.

Quickstart:

pip install flyteidl==1.16.8

from flyteidl.core import workflow_pb2
from flyteidl.admin import service_pb2

# Use generated protobuf message classes to construct or parse Flyte API payloads

Requires Python 3.8 or later (supports up to 3.13); protobuf runtime is a dependency.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package is typically used as a direct application dependency or primarily as a transitive dependency of higher-level Flyte client libraries.
- What the typical workflow is for developers who install this directly versus those who use it through flyte-sdk or similar wrapper packages.

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 758.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

flyte backend api client, protobuf idl for workflows, flyte platform integration, workflow orchestration api, flyte grpc client, flyte specification messages, flyte admin api python, workflow-orchestration, protobuf-idl, grpc-api

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