---
id: openmpi
version: "5.0.10"
license: LicenseRef-OpenMPI
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: active
---

# openmpi — A high performance implementation of MPI

License: unclear · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 102.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This package wraps Open MPI, the open-source implementation of the MPI specification for distributed-memory parallel computing. It allows Python developers to write and run parallel applications across clusters and multi-node systems by providing access to MPI's message-passing primitives. Open MPI is maintained by a consortium of academic, research, and industry partners and combines expertise from across the HPC community.

The package is distributed as prebuilt wheels for macOS and Linux but has medium install friction because it requires the Open MPI system library to be present on the host machine—it does not bundle the runtime. There are no declared Python runtime dependencies. The project is actively maintained, with recent releases and an active repository.

Use it for:

- Distribute computation across a cluster of machines using MPI message passing.
- Parallelize scientific simulations and numerical algorithms on multi-node HPC systems.
- Build fault-tolerant distributed applications that coordinate via MPI collective operations.
- Develop and test parallel code locally before deploying to production HPC clusters.

## Worth the install?

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

Provides a Python interface to Open MPI, a high-performance implementation of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) specification for distributed computing and parallel applications.

Yes, if you need MPI for distributed computing and have Open MPI already installed on your system. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and receives regular downloads. The main gotcha is that it requires the Open MPI system library as a prerequisite and does not specify Python version support, so verify compatibility with your environment before committing.

## Install

pip install openmpi
uv add openmpi
poetry add openmpi

## Installing openmpi

Before you install: Medium install friction: prebuilt wheels are available for macOS and Linux across multiple architectures, but no runtime dependencies are bundled, so the underlying Open MPI library must be present on the system. Active maintenance with recent releases.

License in practice: License treatment is unclear—the package uses a custom LicenseRef-OpenMPI identifier without a standard SPDX mapping. Review the Open MPI project's actual license terms before use in proprietary or restricted contexts.

Quickstart:

pip install openmpi
import openmpi
# Use MPI functions via the package's API

Open MPI system library must be installed on the host; Python version support is unspecified by the package.

Verify before relying:

- Exact Python version compatibility (requires_python is unspecified)
- Whether the package provides Python bindings or is a thin wrapper around the C library
- Runtime dependency on system-installed Open MPI version and compatibility guarantees

## Package facts

- License: LicenseRef-OpenMPI (unclear)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 102.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

MPI message passing interface, distributed computing parallel, high performance computing MPI, cluster computing communication, parallel application framework, hpc, parallel-computing, distributed-systems

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