---
id: parquet-tools
version: "0.2.16"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# parquet-tools — Easy install parquet-tools

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 241.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

parquet-tools is a command-line utility that wraps Apache Arrow to inspect and read Parquet files stored locally or on Amazon S3. It provides three main commands: `show` to display file contents in a human-readable table format, `inspect` to examine file metadata and schema details, and `csv` to export data as CSV for piping to other tools. The package depends on pyarrow for Parquet parsing, pandas for data manipulation, boto3 for S3 access, and tabulate and colorama for formatted terminal output.

The tool is designed for quick exploration and debugging of Parquet files without writing Python code. It works with both local files and S3 paths using glob patterns. However, the project is dormant—the last release was in March 2024 with no recent commits—so it receives no active maintenance. It remains functional for basic use cases but should not be relied upon for bug fixes or updates.

Use it for:

- Quickly inspect the schema and metadata of a Parquet file to understand its structure before processing.
- Preview the first rows of a Parquet file on S3 without downloading the entire dataset.
- Export a Parquet file to CSV format for import into spreadsheet or analytics tools.
- Debug data quality issues by examining row-level content and column types in a Parquet dataset.
- Automate Parquet inspection in shell scripts or CI/CD pipelines for data validation.

## Worth the install?

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

Command-line tool to read, inspect, and export Parquet files from local disk or Amazon S3, displaying schema, metadata, and tabular data.

Yes, if you need a lightweight CLI for ad-hoc Parquet inspection and S3 access. The low install friction and permissive license make it easy to add to a project. However, dormant maintenance means no bug fixes or feature updates are coming; if you need active support or encounter issues, you may need to fork or switch to direct pyarrow usage.

## Install

pip install parquet-tools
uv add parquet-tools
poetry add parquet-tools

## Installing parquet-tools

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance is dormant—last release was in March 2024 and no commits since July 2024—so expect no active bug fixes or feature updates, though the package remains functional for its core use case.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive, allowing use in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions; attribution is required but no copyleft obligations apply.

Quickstart:

$ pip install parquet-tools
$ parquet-tools show /path/to/file.parquet
$ parquet-tools inspect /path/to/file.parquet
$ parquet-tools csv s3://bucket/file.parquet

Requires Python 3.9 or later. S3 access requires AWS credentials configured in your environment (boto3 dependency handles this).

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles nested or complex Parquet schemas beyond the basic examples shown.
- Performance characteristics when working with large Parquet files or S3 datasets.
- Whether the CSV export preserves all data types or has known limitations.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 241.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

parquet file viewer cli, read parquet schema command line, parquet inspector s3, parquet to csv export, parquet metadata inspection, parquet file reader tool, s3 parquet inspection, cli-tool, data-format, s3-integration

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