pooch
A friend to fetch your data files
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Pooch is production-stable (Development Status 5), actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and is already trusted by major scientific Python projects (SciPy, scikit-image, xarray, napari, and others). Install it if you need to download, cache, and verify data files in any Python project—it eliminates boilerplate and adds reproducibility with minimal overhead.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Low friction: pure Python with only three runtime dependencies (platformdirs, packaging, requests).
- Active maintenance with last commit 2026-08-04 and no known vulnerabilities.
License · maintenance · safety
BSD-3-Clause (permissive) — BSD-3-Clause is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute Pooch with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for both open-source and proprietary projects.
last release 2026-01-30 (196 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-04 · 738 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 16,960,613 downloads/mo, #1,134 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
import pooch
# Download and cache a file, verifying its hash
fname = pooch.retrieve(
url="https://example.com/data.csv",
known_hash="md5:a7332aa6e69c77d49d7fb54b764caa82"
)
# For package developers, create a managed cache
GOODBOY = pooch.create(
path=pooch.os_cache("mypackage"),
base_url="https://github.com/myproject/data/",
registry={"file.csv": "sha256hash"}
)
fname = GOODBOY.fetch("file.csv")- Whether custom post-processors (unzip/decompress) are included in the base package or require additional dependencies.
- Performance characteristics when managing large numbers of files or very large individual files.
- Whether FTP support is fully tested and maintained or primarily HTTP-focused.
What it is and what it does
Pooch is a Python library that handles the tedious parts of downloading and caching data files. It sits between your code and the network, fetching files only when needed, storing them locally, and verifying they haven't been corrupted or replaced. It supports HTTP, FTP, and DOI-based downloads from repositories like Zenodo and figshare, with built-in hash verification to ensure reproducibility.
For scientists and researchers, Pooch automates the distribution of sample datasets—you can host data on a repository and let your package download it automatically, ensuring everyone using your code has the same version of the data. For package developers, it provides a clean API to manage versioned data caches without forcing users to manually download files or deal with urllib and requests directly.
Use it for
- Download sample datasets for documentation or tutorials without embedding large files in your package repository.
- Distribute versioned data files with your Python package, automatically fetching them on first use.
- Verify downloaded files against known hashes to detect corruption or tampering.
- Host data on Zenodo or figshare and reference it by DOI instead of managing URLs.
- Implement reproducible research workflows where colleagues run the same code and get identical data.
- Cache remote data locally to avoid re-downloading during repeated script runs or development iterations.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Pooch is production-stable (Development Status 5), actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and is already trusted by major scientific Python projects (SciPy, scikit-image, xarray, napari, and others). Install it if you need to download, cache, and verify data files in any Python project—it eliminates boilerplate and adds reproducibility with minimal overhead.
Install
pooch on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python with only three runtime dependencies (platformdirs, packaging, requests). Active maintenance with last commit 2026-08-04 and no known vulnerabilities.
License in practice
BSD-3-Clause is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute Pooch with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for both open-source and proprietary projects.
Quickstart
import pooch
# Download and cache a file, verifying its hash
fname = pooch.retrieve(
url="https://example.com/data.csv",
known_hash="md5:a7332aa6e69c77d49d7fb54b764caa82"
)
# For package developers, create a managed cache
GOODBOY = pooch.create(
path=pooch.os_cache("mypackage"),
base_url="https://github.com/myproject/data/",
registry={"file.csv": "sha256hash"}
)
fname = GOODBOY.fetch("file.csv")Verify before relying
- Whether custom post-processors (unzip/decompress) are included in the base package or require additional dependencies.
- Performance characteristics when managing large numbers of files or very large individual files.
- Whether FTP support is fully tested and maintained or primarily HTTP-focused.
Package facts
| License | BSD-3-Clause permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 3 packagesplatformdirspackagingrequests |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 196 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 16,960,613 / month, #1,134 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/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: EducationIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Topic :: Scientific/EngineeringTopic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTyping :: Typed |
Evidence: pooch-1.9.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also checksumdir · parfive · fastdownload · filehash · dirhash · django-sri · setuptools-download · open-radar-data · rosettasciio