tls-parser

What it is and what it does

tls_parser is a lightweight library for parsing TLS records from raw binary data. It extracts and interprets the structure of TLS protocol messages, making it useful for security tools, protocol analysis, and SSL/TLS inspection workflows. The package has no runtime dependencies, keeping it minimal and easy to integrate.

The library is used by SSLyze, a popular SSL/TLS scanning tool, indicating it is battle-tested for real-world TLS analysis. It supports current Python versions and has been maintained since 2017, though recent development activity has slowed—the last release was 2025-04-06 and the repository shows a last commit of 2025-10-19.

Use it for:

• Analyze TLS handshakes and protocol messages in security testing frameworks
• Build SSL/TLS inspection tools that need to parse raw protocol data
• Debug TLS communication issues by examining record structure and content
• Integrate TLS parsing into network monitoring or intrusion detection systems
• Validate TLS record format compliance in protocol implementations

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Parses TLS records from binary data, extracting protocol-level details for TLS/SSL inspection and analysis.

Yes, if you need to parse TLS records in Python. The package is stable, has no dependencies, and is proven in production use. However, verify the license terms in the repository first, and check whether it supports the TLS versions your use case requires. The aging maintenance status means security updates may be slow; monitor the repository for any critical fixes.

Install

tls-parser on PyPI

pip install tls-parser

uv add tls-parser

poetry add tls-parser

Installing tls-parser

Before you install

Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. Maintenance status is aging—last commit was 2025-10-19, and no release has been made in 495 days, though the repository remains active and not archived.

License in practice

License status is unclear; no SPDX identifier or license text is declared in the package metadata. Verify the actual license terms in the repository before use in proprietary or copyleft-sensitive contexts.

Quickstart

pip install tls-parser

from tls_parser.parser import parse_tls_record

record_bytes = b'...'  # Raw TLS record data
parsed = parse_tls_record(record_bytes)

Requires Python 3.8 or later.

Verify before relying

• Actual license terms and conditions (not declared in package metadata)
• Whether the package handles all modern TLS versions or only specific versions
• Performance characteristics when parsing large or malformed TLS records
• Specific TLS record types and protocol versions supported by version 2.0.2

Package facts

Evidence: tls_parser-2.0.2-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Cryptography packages