Paste
Tools for using a Web Server Gateway Interface stack
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
No, unless you are maintaining an existing Paste-based application. The maintainers explicitly recommend using other options for new projects. The package is in dormant maintenance mode with infrequent releases and patches accepted only for security issues. For new WSGI development, consider alternatives.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3 or later; Python 2 is no longer supported as of release 3.7.0.
- Low install friction with only setuptools as a runtime dependency.
- However, the package is in dormant maintenance mode—the last release was 835 days ago, and the maintainers explicitly recommend considering other options for new projects.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license is permissive and imposes no significant restrictions on use or redistribution.
last release 2024-05-01 (835 days) · last repo commit 2025-02-11 · 64 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 1,288,119 downloads/mo, #4,107 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install Paste
from paste.fixture import TestApp
from paste.httpexceptions import HTTPNotFound
app = TestApp(your_wsgi_app)
response = app.get('/')- Whether existing WSGI applications using Paste will continue to work with future Python versions given the dormant maintenance status.
- Whether the debugging and profiling features remain compatible with modern web frameworks.
What it is and what it does
Paste is a collection of WSGI middleware and utilities for building, testing, and debugging web applications. It provides components for request/response manipulation, URL dispatching, authentication (HTTP Basic and Digest, signed cookies, CAS), session management, static file serving, and error handling. The package also includes testing fixtures for WSGI applications and command-line tools, plus debugging filters for exception tracking and HTML validation.
The package is in maintenance mode and no longer actively developed—the maintainers explicitly state that patches are accepted only for security issues or major problems, and recommend that new projects consider more modern alternatives. It requires Python 3 and has a single runtime dependency on setuptools.
Use it for
- Testing WSGI applications in-process using the testing fixture in paste.fixture.
- Dispatching requests to multiple WSGI applications based on URL prefixes using paste.urlmap.
- Implementing HTTP authentication via paste.auth.
- Catching and formatting HTTP exceptions into proper responses with paste.httpexceptions.
- Debugging web applications by capturing print output with paste.debug modules.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
No, unless you are maintaining an existing Paste-based application.
The maintainers explicitly recommend using other options for new projects. The package is in dormant maintenance mode with infrequent releases and patches accepted only for security issues. For new WSGI development, consider alternatives.
Install
paste on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with only setuptools as a runtime dependency. However, the package is in dormant maintenance mode—the last release was 835 days ago, and the maintainers explicitly recommend considering other options for new projects.
Requires Python 3 or later; Python 2 is no longer supported as of release 3.7.0.
License in practice
MIT license is permissive and imposes no significant restrictions on use or redistribution.
Quickstart
pip install Paste
from paste.fixture import TestApp
from paste.httpexceptions import HTTPNotFound
app = TestApp(your_wsgi_app)
response = app.get('/')Verify before relying
- Whether existing WSGI applications using Paste will continue to work with future Python versions given the dormant maintenance status.
- Whether the debugging and profiling features remain compatible with modern web frameworks.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 1 packagesetuptools |
| Maintenance | Dormant 835 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 1,288,119 / month, #4,107 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableFramework :: PasteIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTPTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic ContentTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGITopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: ApplicationTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: MiddlewareTopic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: ServerTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules |
Evidence: Paste-3.10.1-py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “wsgi middleware”
- PastePaste provides WSGI middleware components for building web…
- dj-staticWraps a WSGI application to serve static files in production using a…
- opentelemetry-instrumentation-wsgiProvides WSGI middleware for OpenTelemetry that automatically…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Python Modules packages
Converts domain names between Unicode and ASCII-compatible encoding (Punycode) according to IDNA 2008 and Unicode Technical Standard 46, with security validation and broader script coverage than the standard library.
Install it if you work with internationalized domain names, need to validate domains, or use HTTP clients that depend on it transitively.
Setuptools is a Python build backend and package management tool that handles building, distributing, and installing Python packages, including support for C/C++ extension modules.
PyYAML parses and emits YAML 1.1 data format, enabling serialization and deserialization of configuration files and Python objects to and from human-readable YAML text.
Pydantic validates Python data structures against type hints, coercing and checking input at runtime to ensure it matches a declared schema.
Provides reusable metadata objects for use with PEP-593 `typing.Annotated` to express common constraints like bounds, collection sizes, and predicates on types.
Install it if you use or build libraries that need to express type constraints in a standardized, inspectable way—or if you want to annotate your own types with…
Provides runtime tools to inspect and introspect Python type annotations, enabling programmatic examination of type hints at execution time.
See also PasteDeploy · PasteScript · WebOb · wsgiref · WSGIProxy2 · Werkzeug · dj-static · Beaker · static3 · tool