---
id: pubcontrol
version: "3.5.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# pubcontrol — EPCP library

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 79.8K/mo

## What it is and what it does

PyPubControl is a Python library for publishing messages to multiple endpoints using the EPCP (Fanout's message protocol). It wraps HTTP and ZMQ transports, allowing you to send formatted messages to subscribers across configured endpoints with optional JWT or basic authentication. The library tracks subscriber presence when configured to do so, preventing messages from being sent to channels with no active subscribers.

You initialize a PubControl instance with endpoint URIs and credentials, then call publish() to send messages. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous publishing with callbacks. The package is designed for real-time message distribution in systems using Fanout's infrastructure or compatible ZMQ-based pub-sub setups.

Use it for:

- Publish real-time updates to web clients through Fanout's HTTP API endpoints.
- Send messages to ZMQ subscribers via PUSH or XPUB sockets with automatic socket discovery.
- Distribute notifications across multiple endpoints from a single publish call.
- Track active subscribers on channels to avoid publishing to empty channels.
- Integrate with Pushpin or other EPCP-compatible servers for live data delivery.

## Worth the install?

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

Publishes messages to multiple endpoints via HTTP or ZMQ using the EPCP protocol, with optional JWT and basic authentication.

No. The package is abandoned (last release 2023-07-05, no activity for 1136 days) and tightly coupled to Fanout's infrastructure. Unless you are maintaining legacy code that depends on it or actively use Fanout's services, the lack of maintenance and unclear Python version support make it a poor choice for new projects. High install friction for ZMQ support and no clear upgrade path.

## Install

pip install pubcontrol
uv add pubcontrol
poetry add pubcontrol

## Installing pubcontrol

Before you install: High install friction: no runtime dependencies listed, but ZMQ publishing requires optional system packages (pyzmq, tnetstring). Package is abandoned—last release 2023-07-05, no commits since then, and 1136 days without activity.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pubcontrol

from pubcontrol import PubControl, Item, Format

class HttpResponseFormat(Format):
    def __init__(self, body):
        self.body = body
    def name(self):
        return 'http-response'
    def export(self):
        return {'body': self.body}

pub = PubControl({'uri': 'https://api.fanout.io/realm/'})
pub.publish('channel', Item(HttpResponseFormat('Test message')))

ZMQ publishing requires pyzmq and tnetstring (or tnetstring3 for Python 3) to be installed separately.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works with current Python versions (python_support is unspecified).
- Whether the EPCP protocol and Fanout API endpoints are still actively maintained and compatible.
- Whether the 79,768 monthly downloads reflect active use or legacy/automated installations.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 79.8K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

message publishing library, epcp protocol python, http zmq publisher, multi-endpoint pub-sub, fanout publishing, realtime message distribution, subscriber tracking, abandoned, fanout-specific, realtime-messaging

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pubcontrol) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pubcontrol/)