---
id: python-irodsclient
version: "3.3.0"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# python-irodsclient — A Python API for iRODS

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 118.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Python iRODS Client is a native Python API for interacting with iRODS, an open-source distributed data management system. It handles the full lifecycle of iRODS operations: establishing secure connections with password, GSI, or PAM authentication; executing GenQuery and GenQuery2 queries; managing collections and data objects with operations like checksumming, replication, and parallel transfers; and administering users, groups, resources, rules, metadata, and ticket-based access.

The package is built on four runtime dependencies—PrettyTable, defusedxml, jsonpointer, and jsonpatch—and supports Python 3.9 or later. It is designed for developers and administrators who need programmatic control over iRODS systems, from simple file operations to complex data governance workflows.

Use it for:

- Automate bulk data ingestion and replication workflows into an iRODS system from Python applications.
- Query and retrieve metadata-rich datasets from iRODS collections programmatically in data analysis pipelines.
- Manage user permissions, groups, and ticket-based access to iRODS resources in multi-tenant environments.
- Implement parallel PUT/GET operations for efficient transfer of large data objects.
- Build custom iRODS rule execution and monitoring tools in Python for institutional data governance.

## Worth the install?

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

Python client library for iRODS, a distributed data management system, enabling connections, authentication, queries, and management of collections, data objects, metadata, users, and resources.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. It is the standard Python API for iRODS and suitable for production use if you need programmatic access to an iRODS system. Install it if you are building applications that must integrate with iRODS for data management or administration.

## Install

pip install python-irodsclient
uv add python-irodsclient
poetry add python-irodsclient

## Installing python-irodsclient

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with recent commits and a stable release cadence; last release was 149 days ago and the repository shows ongoing development.

License in practice: BSD-3-Clause is a permissive license, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions beyond attribution and liability disclaimers.

Quickstart:

pip install python-irodsclient

from irods.session import iRODSSession

with iRODSSession(host='localhost', port=1247, user='bob', password='1234', zone='tempZone') as session:
    # workload

Requires an iRODS server to connect to; Python 3.9 or later; SSL/TLS setup may require manual configuration depending on your iRODS server's certificate setup.

Verify before relying:

- Whether SSL/TLS setup works seamlessly with modern certificate validation defaults or requires manual configuration in typical deployments.
- Performance characteristics when handling large-scale parallel data transfers or very large collections.
- Compatibility with iRODS server versions beyond the current release cycle.

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 118.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

irods python client, distributed data management, irods session connection, data object management api, irods authentication, collection and metadata management, irods query interface, distributed-storage, data-management, irods

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