---
id: pytenable
version: "26.6.1"
license: MIT License
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# pyTenable — Python library to interface into Tenable's products and applications

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 346.3K/mo

## What it is and what it does

pyTenable is a Python wrapper that normalizes access to multiple Tenable vulnerability management and security products under a common interface. Rather than learning each product's distinct REST API, you instantiate a product-specific client and call methods that follow consistent patterns across the library.

The package depends on requests for HTTP communication, marshmallow and pydantic for data validation and serialization, graphql-core for GraphQL support, and several utility libraries including python-dateutil, arrow, semver, defusedxml, and python-box to handle common data transformation tasks. It's designed for developers who need to automate vulnerability scanning, retrieve scan results, manage security policies, or integrate vulnerability data into larger security workflows.

Use it for:

- Automate vulnerability scans and retrieve results programmatically for reporting or downstream processing.
- Query for vulnerabilities and compliance data to feed into a centralized security dashboard or SIEM.
- Build orchestration scripts that manage scan schedules, policies, or asset groups across products.
- Integrate vulnerability data into CI/CD pipelines to gate deployments based on scan findings.
- Export and transform vulnerability metadata for custom analysis or compliance audits.

## Worth the install?

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

pyTenable provides a unified Python interface to Tenable's vulnerability management and security products, abstracting away differences between their individual APIs.

Yes. pyTenable is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no known security vulnerabilities, and is licensed permissively under MIT. It's appropriate for any Python project that needs to integrate with Tenable products. The main consideration is whether your use case fits the products it supports.

## Install

pip install pytenable
uv add pytenable
poetry add pytenable

## Installing pyTenable

Before you install: Low friction install with a pure Python wheel. Actively maintained as of 2026-08-05 with 14 runtime dependencies. Supports current Python versions; requires 3.11 or later.

License in practice: MIT License (permissive) — you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install pytenable

from tenable.io import TenableIO
tio = TenableIO(access_key='YOUR_KEY', secret_key='YOUR_SECRET')
for scan in tio.scans.list():
    print(scan)

Requires Python 3.11 or later. You must obtain valid API credentials (access_key and secret_key) from your Tenable application.

Verify before relying:

- Whether all 14 runtime dependencies are truly required for basic use or if some are optional for specific products.
- Performance characteristics when handling large result sets from scans or analyses.
- Which Tenable product versions are supported and whether there are known compatibility gaps.

## Package facts

- License: MIT License (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 346.3K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

tenable api client python, vulnerability management api wrapper, tenable security integration, tenable.io python client, security scanning orchestration, tenable cloud security api, vulnerability data retrieval, vulnerability-management, security-api, tenable-integration

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