---
id: pyclibrary
version: "0.3.0"
license: The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2010 Luke Campagnola Copyright (c) 2015 Matthieu Dartiailh Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and… (full text in the JSON record)
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pyclibrary — C binding automation

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 399.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

PyClibrary is a pure-Python C parser and ctypes binding automation library that reads C header files and extracts their definitions—macros, typedefs, structs, unions, enums, function prototypes, and global variables—then uses those definitions to simplify calling C libraries from Python. It evaluates typedefs down to their fundamental C types and can automatically build C structs and perform type conversions when invoking functions through ctypes' cdll or windll interfaces.

The package aims to be FFI-agnostic, presenting a backend-independent API; currently only ctypes is implemented, though a cffi backend is noted as theoretically possible. It depends only on pyparsing and runs on Python 3.10 and later. The library is a maintained fork of an earlier Launchpad project and is actively developed, making it suitable for projects that need to reduce boilerplate when wrapping existing C libraries.

Use it for:

- Automatically generate Python ctypes wrappers from C header files to call compiled C libraries without manual struct and type definitions.
- Parse and evaluate C macros and typedefs to determine their underlying C types for use in Python binding code.
- Simplify integration of legacy C libraries into Python projects by automating the extraction of function signatures and struct layouts.
- Build Python-friendly wrappers around Windows DLLs or Unix shared libraries with automatic type conversion on function calls.
- Reduce maintenance burden when C library headers change by regenerating bindings from the updated headers.

## Worth the install?

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

Parses C header files and automates ctypes-based bindings to C libraries, handling macros, typedefs, structs, unions, enums, and function prototypes with automatic type conversion.

Yes. Low install friction, active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and permissive MIT license make this a safe choice. Install it if you need to call C libraries from Python and want to avoid hand-writing ctypes boilerplate; skip it if you prefer explicit control over bindings or are already using a dedicated FFI tool like cffi.

## Install

pip install pyclibrary
uv add pyclibrary
poetry add pyclibrary

## Installing pyclibrary

Before you install: Low friction: pure-Python wheel with a single runtime dependency (pyparsing). Actively maintained as of 2026-07-17 with recent release history since 2015.

License in practice: MIT license (permissive): you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects, with minimal restrictions beyond preserving the license notice.

Quickstart:

pip install pyclibrary

from pyclibrary import CParser
parser = CParser(['myheader.h'])
print(parser.defs['functions'])

Requires Python 3.10 or later; C header files must be present and syntactically valid for the parser to process them.

Verify before relying:

- Extent of C syntax coverage beyond the documented macro, typedef, struct, union, enum, function prototype, and global variable support.
- Whether the ctypes backend handles all common calling conventions and platform-specific type mappings automatically.
- Real-world performance on large or complex header files with heavy macro nesting or conditional compilation.

## Package facts

- License: The MIT License (MIT) Copyright (c) 2010 Luke Campagnola Copyright (c) 2015 Matthieu Dartiailh Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and… (full text in the JSON record) (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 399.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

c header parser python, ctypes bindings automation, c library wrapper generator, parse c headers, c struct type conversion, cdll windll binding helper, c function prototype parser, c-interop, ctypes, header-parsing

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