---
id: shared
version: "0.0.32"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# shared — Data exchange and persistence based on human-readable files

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 125.9K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Shared is a file-based data persistence library that serializes Python dictionaries into human-readable files. It handles strings, numbers, dates, binary data, and nested collections (lists, sets, dictionaries) by encoding them through the Paradict format. The primary use case is storing unstructured application data, managing configuration files, caching, and exchanging data between programs—all without requiring a database server.

The library is intentionally simple and experimental. It does not implement file locking or synchronization, so concurrent access can corrupt data; the author explicitly recommends considering alternatives for production scenarios requiring robustness. Shared is best suited for single-threaded applications, small datasets, or scenarios where human-readable persistence files are a deliberate design choice.

Use it for:

- Store application configuration and user preferences in human-readable format
- Cache computed results or session data to disk without a database
- Exchange structured data with other programs via portable, text-based files
- Persist unstructured datasets in a development or testing environment

## Worth the install?

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

Shared provides a simple file-based data persistence layer that encodes Python dictionaries (including strings, scalars, dates, binary data, and nested collections) into human-readable files using the Paradict format.

Yes, if you need simple file-based persistence for single-threaded applications and prefer human-readable storage over a database. No, if you require concurrent access safety, high performance, or production-grade reliability. The package is stable and dependency-light, but dormant maintenance and lack of concurrency protection are real constraints.

## Install

pip install shared
uv add shared
poetry add shared

## Installing shared

Before you install: Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (paradict and kvf). The package is dormant—last release was 612 days ago—but the repository remains active with a recent commit on 2024-12-10. No maintenance concerns for a stable, single-purpose library.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. No licensing concerns for adoption.

Quickstart:

from shared import Dossier, HOME
from pathlib import Path

path = Path(HOME, "my_dossier")
dossier = Dossier(path)
dossier.set("my_key", {"name": "value"})
data = dossier.get("my_key")

Requires Python 3.5 or newer. No synchronization mechanisms are implemented; concurrent writes to the same file may cause data corruption.

Verify before relying:

- Performance characteristics and scalability limits for large dictionaries or frequent operations
- Whether paradict and kvf dependencies are actively maintained or also dormant
- Real-world reliability and data integrity in production use cases

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 125.9K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

file-based data persistence, human-readable data storage, dictionary serialization, configuration file management, data caching to files, file-based-storage, serialization

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