---
id: webapp2
version: "2.5.2"
license: Apache Software License
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: abandoned
---

# webapp2 — Taking Google App Engine's webapp to the next level!

License: permissive · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 221.5K/mo

## What it is and what it does

webapp2 is a minimal web framework built as an improved version of Google App Engine's original webapp module. It provides core web request handling with URI routing, exception handling, and response objects, designed to work both within App Engine and as a standalone Python web framework. The package has no runtime dependencies and aims for simplicity in application structure.

The framework was last updated in 2012-09-28 and is now abandoned, with no active maintenance or repository activity. While it remains available on PyPI and receives modest downloads, it predates modern Python web standards and practices. It should be considered a legacy framework suitable only for maintaining existing applications or learning historical web framework design, not for new projects.

Use it for:

- Maintaining or extending existing Google App Engine applications originally built with webapp2.
- Learning how early Python web frameworks structured routing and request handling before modern frameworks emerged.
- Running legacy code that depends on webapp2 in environments where dependency updates are not feasible.

## Worth the install?

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

A lightweight Python web framework designed for Google App Engine that provides URI routing, exception handling, and request/response management without external dependencies.

No. webapp2 is abandoned (last release 2012-09-28) with no maintenance signals and outdated design patterns. Install only if maintaining an existing application that already depends on it. For new projects, use a maintained web framework.

## Install

pip install webapp2
uv add webapp2
poetry add webapp2

## Installing webapp2

Before you install: High install friction with no runtime dependencies. Package is abandoned—last release was 2012-09-28 with no active maintenance or repository signals available.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache Software License (permissive), meaning you can use, modify, and distribute the package freely as long as you include a copy of the license and notice of changes.

Quickstart:

pip install webapp2

import webapp2

class HelloWorld(webapp2.RequestHandler):
    def get(self):
        self.response.write('Hello World')

app = webapp2.WSGIApplication([('/', HelloWorld)])

No minimum Python version specified in package metadata; compatibility with modern Python versions is uncertain given the abandonment and age of the package.

Verify before relying:

- Whether webapp2 runs on Python 3 or only Python 2, given the 2012 release date and no specified Python version requirement.
- Current state of Google App Engine compatibility and whether the framework still works with modern App Engine runtimes.
- Whether the optional webapp2_extras package is included or must be installed separately.

## Package facts

- License: Apache Software License (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 221.5K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

lightweight python web framework, google app engine webapp, simple python web routing, app engine compatible framework, python http request handler, legacy, app-engine

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/webapp2) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/webapp2/)