---
id: softlayer
version: "6.2.9"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# SoftLayer — A library for SoftLayer's API

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 430.0K/mo

## What it is and what it does

SoftLayer is a Python client library and CLI tool for IBM's SoftLayer cloud infrastructure API. It wraps SoftLayer's XML-RPC API, allowing developers to programmatically manage virtual servers, storage, networking, and other cloud resources. The package includes both a Python library for direct API calls and a command-line interface (slcli) for interactive management from the shell.

The library depends on click, requests, prompt_toolkit, pygments, urllib3, and rich to provide a polished CLI experience with formatted output, interactive prompts, and syntax highlighting. It is actively maintained, supports modern Python versions (3.7 through 3.12), and has no known security vulnerabilities. Installation is straightforward via pip, though you will need valid SoftLayer API credentials and network access to use it.

Use it for:

- Automate provisioning and management of SoftLayer virtual servers and cloud resources from Python scripts or CI/CD pipelines.
- Query SoftLayer account information, billing, and infrastructure details programmatically without manual API calls.
- Use the slcli command-line tool to list, create, and manage virtual servers and services interactively from the shell.
- Debug and inspect exact API calls made by the library using verbose logging and the DebugTransport class.
- Integrate SoftLayer infrastructure management into larger Python applications or orchestration frameworks.

## Worth the install?

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

Python client library and command-line interface for interacting with SoftLayer's XML-RPC API to manage cloud infrastructure, virtual servers, and related services.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, and a permissive MIT license. It is the official client for SoftLayer's API and is suitable for production use if you manage infrastructure on SoftLayer. The only caveat is the pinned rich==12.3.0 dependency—verify it does not conflict with other packages in your environment before installing.

## Install

pip install softlayer
uv add softlayer
poetry add softlayer

## Installing SoftLayer

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained with a recent commit on 2026-07-27 and no known vulnerabilities. Requires Python 3.7 or later; note that the package depends on rich==12.3.0, which pins a specific version rather than allowing a range.

License in practice: MIT license (permissive) allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. No licensing concerns for most use cases.

Quickstart:

pip install softlayer

import SoftLayer

client = SoftLayer.Client()
mask = "mask[id]"
account = client.call('Account', 'getObject', mask=mask)
print(account['id'])

Requires a valid SoftLayer API username and key. A connection to SoftLayer's private network is required to use private network API endpoints.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the rich==12.3.0 pinned dependency causes compatibility issues with other packages in your environment.
- Current support status for Python 3.7, given that the description emphasizes 3.8, 3.9, and 3.10 as the primary supported versions.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 430.0K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

softlayer api client, ibm cloud infrastructure management, softlayer cli tool, cloud server provisioning python, softlayer xml-rpc client, cloud-infrastructure, api-client, cli-tool

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