aiozmq 0.7.0
Overview
aiozmq provides ZeroMQ integration with Python asyncio (PEP 3156). It bridges the gap between ZeroMQ's high-performance messaging library and Python's async event loop, offering three layers of abstraction:
- Core API — Low-level
ZmqTransport and ZmqProtocol for fine-grained control over ZeroMQ connections
- Streams API — High-level
ZmqStream with read()/write() for convenient message passing
- RPC Framework — Full remote procedure call support with request-reply, push-pull (pipeline), and publish-subscribe patterns
The library works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Windows has limited support: no ipc:// endpoints and the deprecated ZmqEventLoop uses select rather than more efficient alternatives.
When to Use
- Building distributed async applications with ZeroMQ messaging patterns
- Implementing remote procedure calls (RPC) over ZeroMQ transports
- Creating pub-sub, pipeline, or request-reply architectures in asyncio
- Integrating ZeroMQ sockets into existing asyncio event loops
- Monitoring ZeroMQ socket events asynchronously
Installation / Setup
Install aiozmq with pip:
pip install aiozmq
Core requirements:
- Python 3.3+
- pyzmq 13.1+
- asyncio (built-in since Python 3.4)
The optional aiozmq.rpc submodule additionally requires msgpack:
pip install msgpack-python>=0.4.0
Core Concepts
ZeroMQ sockets are the fundamental communication primitives. aiozmq supports all standard socket types: REQ, REP, PUB, SUB, PAIR, DEALER, ROUTER, PULL, PUSH, and others.
Endpoints are strings in the format transport://address. Common transports include:
tcp:// — TCP unicast (most common)ipc:// — Local inter-process communication (Unix only)inproc:// — In-process (inter-thread) communicationpgm://, epgm:// — Reliable multicast
Bind vs Connect: The bind side listens for incoming connections; the connect side initiates outbound connections. Both can accept a single string or an iterable of endpoint strings.
Message format: Messages are multipart — sent as tuples or lists of byte strings. Each frame in the tuple becomes a separate message part on the wire.
Advanced Topics
Core API (Transport/Protocol): Low-level ZeroMQ transport and protocol classes for custom connection handling → Core API
Streams API: High-level stream-oriented interface with read()/write() and socket event monitoring → Streams API
RPC Framework: Remote procedure calls with request-reply, push-pull, and pub-sub patterns including exception translation, signature validation, and custom value translators → RPC Framework
