---
id: zmq
version: "0.0.0"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# zmq — You are probably looking for pyzmq.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 626.9K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This is a stub or redirect package pointing users to pyzmq, the official Python bindings for ZeroMQ (ØMQ), a lightweight messaging library. ZeroMQ provides fast, asynchronous messaging patterns for distributed systems. The actual implementation lives in the pyzmq package, which wraps the libzmq C library and supports Python 3.9 and later, as well as PyPy.

The zmq package itself (version 0.0.0) contains no functional code—it exists only to redirect developers to the correct package. Installing this stub will not give you working ZeroMQ bindings; you must install pyzmq instead.

Use it for:

- Building distributed messaging systems that need fast, lightweight inter-process or network communication.
- Implementing request-reply, publish-subscribe, or push-pull messaging patterns in Python applications.
- Creating microservices or event-driven architectures that rely on asynchronous message passing.

## Worth the install?

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

This package is a redirect to pyzmq, the official Python bindings for ZeroMQ messaging. The actual library is maintained under the pyzmq name.

No. This is a stub package (version 0.0.0) with no actual code. Install pyzmq instead, which is the active, maintained project providing real ZeroMQ bindings. The high install friction and redirect-only nature of this package make it unsuitable for any real use.

## Install

pip install zmq
uv add zmq
poetry add zmq

## Installing zmq

Before you install: High install friction: this is a stub package (version 0.0.0) with no runtime dependencies and only archive distributions available. The fact sheet indicates you should install pyzmq instead, which is the active, maintained project.

License in practice: Licensed under BSD (permissive), which allows commercial and private use with attribution. However, this is a redirect package with no actual code, so the license applies only to any minimal wrapper content.

Quickstart:

# This package redirects to pyzmq. Install the actual library instead:
# pip install pyzmq

import zmq
context = zmq.Context()
socket = context.socket(zmq.REQ)

This package (zmq 0.0.0) is a stub. You must install pyzmq instead to get working ZeroMQ bindings. The libzmq C library must also be installed on your system or built during installation.

Verify before relying:

- Whether installing this stub package automatically redirects to or installs pyzmq, or whether it fails silently.
- Current status of the pyzmq project and whether it remains the canonical source for ZeroMQ Python bindings.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 626.9K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

zeromq python bindings, zmq messaging library, pyzmq alternative package name, lightweight messaging python, distributed messaging python, messaging, distributed-systems

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