---
id: inference-sdk
version: "1.4.1"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# inference-sdk — With no prior knowledge of machine learning or device-specific deployment, you can deploy a computer vision model to a range of devices and environments using Roboflow Inference.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 446.5K/mo

## What it is and what it does

The inference-sdk is a Python client library for interacting with Roboflow's Inference server, a self-hosted computer vision platform. It abstracts the HTTP API layer, allowing developers to run pre-trained and fine-tuned models, execute multi-step Workflows, and process video streams without managing the underlying server communication directly. The package wraps requests, urllib3, and aiohttp to handle synchronous and asynchronous calls, and includes support for image processing via opencv-python and pillow.

Typical usage involves instantiating an InferenceHTTPClient pointed at a local or remote server, then calling methods to run Workflows on images or video streams, manage inference pipelines, and consume results. The SDK handles the serialization of images and parameters, making it straightforward to integrate computer vision into Python applications without deep knowledge of REST APIs or model deployment.

Use it for:

- Run object detection or segmentation models on images via a local Inference server from a Python script or application.
- Process live RTSP video streams through Workflows that combine multiple models, tracking, and business logic.
- Execute multi-model consensus or chained inference pipelines where output from one model feeds into another.
- Integrate computer vision predictions into a larger application by querying a centralized Inference server.
- Monitor and consume results from long-running inference pipelines on video feeds in real-time.

## Worth the install?

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

Python SDK for connecting to and running computer vision models and workflows on a local or remote Inference server, enabling image and video stream processing with object detection, classification, segmentation, and custom model inference.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries a permissive license, and no known vulnerabilities. It is the canonical Python client for Roboflow Inference and is suitable for production use if you are already running an Inference server. Install it if you need to programmatically interact with Inference from Python; if you only need the server itself, install inference-cli instead.

## Install

pip install inference-sdk
uv add inference-sdk
poetry add inference-sdk

## Installing inference-sdk

Before you install: Low friction install with a pure Python wheel. Active maintenance with a recent release and 2416 repository stars. Requires Python 3.10 or later but not 3.13+.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache 2.0 (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install inference-sdk

from inference_sdk import InferenceHTTPClient

client = InferenceHTTPClient(
    api_url="http://localhost:9001",
    api_key="your_api_key"
)

result = client.run_workflow(
    workspace_name="your-workspace",
    workflow_id="your-workflow",
    images={"image": "path/to/image.jpg"}
)

Requires a running Inference server (typically started via `inference server start --dev` after installing inference-cli and Docker).

Verify before relying:

- Whether the SDK supports all model types available on the server or has limitations on certain architectures.
- Performance characteristics and latency expectations for typical inference workloads.
- Whether authentication and API key management are required for production deployments.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: capped_below_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 446.5K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

computer vision inference client, run models on inference server, object detection python sdk, video stream processing api, roboflow inference integration, image classification api client, workflow execution python, computer-vision, inference-client, model-serving

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