nats-io/nats.py

NATS.py - Python Client and Tools

A Python workspace for NATS messaging system, containing:

• nats-py - An asyncio Python client for NATS
• nats-server - Python library for managing NATS servers for development and testing

Packages

nats-py

The main NATS client for Python, providing async/await support for pub/sub and JetStream.

Installation: pip install nats-py
Documentation: See Getting Started and JetStream below

nats-server

A Python library for managing NATS servers in development and testing environments. Provides async APIs to start, configure, and manage NATS server instances and clusters.

Installation: pip install nats-server
Documentation: See the nats-server package for details

---

nats-py Client

Supported platforms

Should be compatible with at least Python +3.8.

Getting started

import asyncio
import nats
from nats.errors import ConnectionClosedError, TimeoutError, NoServersError

async def main():
    # It is very likely that the demo server will see traffic from clients other than yours.
    # To avoid this, start your own locally and modify the example to use it.
    nc = await nats.connect("nats://demo.nats.io:4222")

    # You can also use the following for TLS against the demo server.
    #
    # nc = await nats.connect("tls://demo.nats.io:4443")

    async def message_handler(msg):
        subject = msg.subject
        reply = msg.reply
        data = msg.data.decode()
        print("Received a message on '{subject} {reply}': {data}".format(
            subject=subject, reply=reply, data=data))

    # Simple publisher and async subscriber via coroutine.
    sub = await nc.subscribe("foo", cb=message_handler)

    # Stop receiving after 2 messages.
    await sub.unsubscribe(limit=2)
    await nc.publish("foo", b'Hello')
    await nc.publish("foo", b'World')
    await nc.publish("foo", b'!!!!!')

    # Synchronous style with iterator also supported.
    sub = await nc.subscribe("bar")
    await nc.publish("bar", b'First')
    await nc.publish("bar", b'Second')

    try:
        async for msg in sub.messages:
            print(f"Received a message on '{msg.subject} {msg.reply}': {msg.data.decode()}")
            await sub.unsubscribe()
    except Exception as e:
        pass

    async def help_request(msg):
        print(f"Received a message on '{msg.subject} {msg.reply}': {msg.data.decode()}")
        await nc.publish(msg.reply, b'I can help')

    # Use queue named 'workers' for distributing requests
    # among subscribers.
    sub = await nc.subscribe("help", "workers", help_request)

    # Send a request and expect a single response
    # and trigger timeout if not faster than 500 ms.
    try:
        response = await nc.request("help", b'help me', timeout=0.5)
        print("Received response: {message}".format(
            message=response.data.decode()))
    except TimeoutError:
        print("Request timed out")

    # Remove interest in subscription.
    await sub.unsubscribe()

    # Terminate connection to NATS.
    await nc.drain()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    asyncio.run(main())

JetStream

Starting v2.0.0 series, the client now has JetStream support:

import asyncio
import nats
from nats.errors import TimeoutError

async def main():
    nc = await nats.connect("localhost")

    # Create JetStream context.
    js = nc.jetstream()

    # Persist messages on 'foo's subject.
    await js.add_stream(name="sample-stream", subjects=["foo"])

    for i in range(0, 10):
        ack = await js.publish("foo", f"hello world: {i}".encode())
        print(ack)

    # Create pull based consumer on 'foo'.
    psub = await js.pull_subscribe("foo", "psub")

    # Fetch and ack messagess from consumer.
    for i in range(0, 10):
        msgs = await psub.fetch(1)
        for msg in msgs:
            await msg.ack()
            print(msg)

    # Create single ephemeral push based subscriber.
    sub = await js.subscribe("foo")
    msg = await sub.next_msg()
    await msg.ack()

    # Create single push based subscriber that is durable across restarts.
    sub = await js.subscribe("foo", durable="myapp")
    msg = await sub.next_msg()
    await msg.ack()

    # Create deliver group that will be have load balanced messages.
    async def qsub_a(msg):
        print("QSUB A:", msg)
        await msg.ack()

    async def qsub_b(msg):
        print("QSUB B:", msg)
        await msg.ack()
    await js.subscribe("foo", "workers", cb=qsub_a)
    await js.subscribe("foo", "workers", cb=qsub_b)

    for i in range(0, 10):
        ack = await js.publish("foo", f"hello world: {i}".encode())
        print("\t", ack)

    # Create ordered consumer with flow control and heartbeats
    # that auto resumes on failures.
    osub = await js.subscribe("foo", ordered_consumer=True)
    data = bytearray()

    while True:
        try:
            msg = await osub.next_msg()
            data.extend(msg.data)
        except TimeoutError:
            break
    print("All data in stream:", len(data))

    await nc.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    asyncio.run(main())

TLS

TLS connections can be configured with an ssl context

ssl_ctx = ssl.create_default_context(purpose=ssl.Purpose.SERVER_AUTH)
ssl_ctx.load_verify_locations('ca.pem')
ssl_ctx.load_cert_chain(certfile='client-cert.pem',
                        keyfile='client-key.pem')
await nats.connect(servers=["tls://127.0.0.1:4443"], tls=ssl_ctx, tls_hostname="localhost")

Setting the scheme to tls in the connect URL will make the client create a default ssl context automatically:

import asyncio
import ssl
from nats.aio.client import Client as NATS

async def run():
    nc = NATS()
    await nc.connect("tls://demo.nats.io:4443")

Note: If getting SSL certificate errors in OS X, try first installing the certifi certificate bundle. If using Python 3.7 for example, then run:

$ /Applications/Python\ 3.7/Install\ Certificates.command
 -- pip install --upgrade certifi
Collecting certifi
...
 -- removing any existing file or link
 -- creating symlink to certifi certificate bundle
 -- setting permissions
 -- update complete

NKEYS and JWT User Credentials

Since v0.9.0 release, you can also optionally install NKEYS in order to use the new NATS v2.0 auth features:

pip install nats-py[nkeys]

Usage:

await nats.connect("tls://connect.ngs.global:4222", user_credentials="/path/to/secret.creds")

---

Client and Orbit

NATS client functionality is split across two layers: the core client (nats-py, this repo) and Orbit, a separate set of packages with higher-level utilities.

The split exists so the core can stay small, stable, and consistent across NATS clients in every language, while Orbit can iterate quickly on opinionated abstractions without dragging the core API along for the ride.

Core client (nats-py)

• Direct API over Core NATS and JetStream as exposed by nats-server.
• Lightweight, unopinionated, performance-oriented.
• API surface kept in parity with other official NATS clients (Rust, Go, .NET, Java, JS, C). A feature shipped here should look the same shape everywhere.
• Stable, conservative versioning. Breaking changes are rare and deliberate.

Orbit (orbit.py)

• Higher-level, opinionated abstractions built on top of the core client.
• Per-package versioning, so an experimental utility can iterate without bumping every other piece.
• Free to be language-specific: a Python-idiomatic API does not need to match the equivalent in other languages.
• May lag, omit, or extend cross-client parity items.

What goes where?

Rule of thumb: if it is a thin mapping of something nats-server already speaks and every official client must expose it, it belongs in core. If it is a pattern, helper, or abstraction layered on top, it belongs in Orbit.

Layering

   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │  Application code                                    │
   └──────────────┬───────────────────────────┬───────────┘
                  │                           │
                  ▼                           ▼
        ┌───────────────────┐       ┌───────────────────┐
        │ Orbit packages    │  uses │ nats-py (core)    │
        │ (opinionated,     │──────▶│ (parity, stable,  │
        │  per-pkg semver)  │       │  protocol-level)  │
        └───────────────────┘       └─────────┬─────────┘
                                              │
                                              ▼
                                       ┌─────────────┐
                                       │ nats-server │
                                       └─────────────┘

---

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and guidelines.

License

Unless otherwise noted, the NATS source files are distributed under the Apache Version 2.0 license found in the LICENSE file.