trailrunner
Run things on paths
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, for developer tools and batch file processing. The package is stable, has minimal dependencies, and solves a specific problem well. The dormant maintenance status is not a concern for a mature, narrow-scope utility with no known vulnerabilities. Install it if you need .gitignore-aware file discovery with built-in parallelism; skip it if you need active maintenance or ongoing feature development.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.7 or newer.
- Low install friction; depends only on pathspec.
- Dormant maintenance status (last release March 2023, last commit July 2024) means no active development, but the package is classified as Production/Stable and has seen no recent changes to suggest instability.
License · maintenance · safety
permissive license (permissive) — MIT license (permissive); you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.
last release 2023-03-27 (1236 days) · last repo commit 2024-07-22 · 18 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 2,661,135 downloads/mo, #2,953 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
from pathlib import Path
from trailrunner import walk, run, walk_and_run
# Walk a directory respecting .gitignore
files = walk(Path('.'))
# Run a function on each path in parallel
results = run(files, str)
# Or walk and run in one call
results = walk_and_run([Path('.')], str)- Whether the process pool size is configurable or uses a default based on system CPU count.
- Performance characteristics when walking very large directory trees.
- Behavior when .gitignore files are nested at multiple levels in the tree.
What it is and what it does
trailrunner is a lightweight library for discovering files in a project directory while respecting .gitignore rules, and then running arbitrary functions on those files in parallel. It exposes three main functions: walk() to list files in a path tree, run() to execute a function on a list of paths using a process pool, and walk_and_run() to combine both operations. The library is designed for developer tools like linters and formatters that need to batch-process project files in a predictable, .gitignore-aware manner.
The package depends only on pathspec for .gitignore parsing and uses Python's built-in multiprocessing for parallelism. It is classified as Production/Stable but has been dormant since March 2023, with no recent active maintenance. Installation is straightforward with minimal dependencies, making it a low-friction addition to a project.
Use it for
- Implement a linter or code formatter that discovers and processes all project files while skipping ignored paths.
- Batch-process files in parallel for tasks like syntax validation or metadata extraction across a codebase.
- Build a developer tool that walks a project tree and applies a function to each file, respecting project-level .gitignore rules.
- Parallelize file operations (e.g., checksumming, transformation) across many files in a single call.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, for developer tools and batch file processing.
The package is stable, has minimal dependencies, and solves a specific problem well. The dormant maintenance status is not a concern for a mature, narrow-scope utility with no known vulnerabilities. Install it if you need .gitignore-aware file discovery with built-in parallelism; skip it if you need active maintenance or ongoing feature development.
Install
trailrunner on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction; depends only on pathspec. Dormant maintenance status (last release March 2023, last commit July 2024) means no active development, but the package is classified as Production/Stable and has seen no recent changes to suggest instability.
Requires Python 3.7 or newer.
License in practice
MIT license (permissive); you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
from pathlib import Path
from trailrunner import walk, run, walk_and_run
# Walk a directory respecting .gitignore
files = walk(Path('.'))
# Run a function on each path in parallel
results = run(files, str)
# Or walk and run in one call
results = walk_and_run([Path('.')], str)Verify before relying
- Whether the process pool size is configurable or uses a default based on system CPU count.
- Performance characteristics when walking very large directory trees.
- Behavior when .gitignore files are nested at multiple levels in the tree.
Package facts
| License | permissive license permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.7 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 1 packagepathspec |
| Maintenance | Dormant 1,236 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 2,661,135 / month, #2,953 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseTopic :: UtilitiesTyping :: Typed |
Evidence: trailrunner-1.4.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also py-walk · ignore-python · rignore · igittigitt · gitignorefile · gitignorant · gitignore-parser · path.py · pathspec · scandir