planetary-computer

What it is and what it does

The Planetary Computer SDK is a Python library for accessing Microsoft's Planetary Computer geospatial data service. It specializes in signing Azure Blob Storage URLs and STAC (SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog) objects to grant read access to satellite imagery and related datasets. The library works with pystac objects (Asset, Item, ItemCollection) and pystac-client's ItemSearch, allowing you to either manually sign individual items or automatically sign all results from a client query.

The package depends on click, pydantic, pystac, pystac-client, pytz, requests, packaging, and python-dotenv. It requires Python 3.7 or later. While installation is straightforward, the package has been abandoned since July 2023, meaning no active maintenance or updates are being applied—a significant consideration if you rely on it for production geospatial workflows.

Use it for:

• Automatically sign STAC search results from Planetary Computer when using pystac-client to access satellite imagery.
• Manually sign individual STAC Items or Assets before downloading or processing Planetary Computer datasets.
• Sign raw Azure Blob Storage URLs to grant temporary read access to geospatial data without managing credentials directly.
• Integrate Planetary Computer data access into geospatial analysis pipelines that already use pystac and pystac-client.
• Access Planetary Computer's Blob Storage container directly via ContainerClient or adlfs filesystem abstractions.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Signs Azure Blob Storage URLs and STAC objects to grant read access to Planetary Computer datasets, with optional automatic integration into pystac-client workflows.

Yes, but with caution. The package is well-designed for its narrow purpose—signing Planetary Computer assets—and has low install friction. However, it is abandoned (last release July 2023, 1136 days ago), so there will be no bug fixes or compatibility updates. Install it only if you are committed to using Planetary Computer data and can accept the risk of eventual incompatibility with newer dependency versions. For new projects, verify that the signing mechanism and API endpoint remain stable.

Install

planetary-computer on PyPI

pip install planetary-computer

uv add planetary-computer

poetry add planetary-computer

Installing planetary-computer

Before you install

Low install friction with eight well-established dependencies. However, the package is abandoned—last release was 2023-07-05, over 1136 days ago. No active maintenance means bug fixes or compatibility updates with newer dependency versions are unlikely.

License in practice

MIT License permits free use, modification, and redistribution with minimal restrictions, making it safe to adopt from a licensing perspective.

Quickstart

pip install planetary-computer

import planetary_computer
from pystac_client import Client

api = Client.open(
    'https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/api/stac/v1',
    modifier=planetary_computer.sign_inplace,
)
# Results from api are now automatically signed

Requires a Planetary Computer API subscription key (optional but recommended for better rate limits); set via PC_SDK_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY environment variable or planetarycomputer configure CLI.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package remains compatible with current versions of pystac, pystac-client, and requests given its abandoned status.
• Whether Azure Blob Storage signing behavior has changed since the last release in July 2023.
• Whether the Planetary Computer API endpoint remains stable and unchanged.

Package facts

Evidence: planetary_computer-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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