Getting Started: Python

The Python package wraps the same native Rust engine — not a reimplementation — so parsing, serialization, SPARQL, and validation behave identically to the Rust, JavaScript, and C surfaces.

pip install purrdf

Parsing

import purrdf

quads = purrdf.parse(
    '<https://example.org/alice> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name> "Alice" .',
    purrdf.RdfFormat.TURTLE,
)

Validation: SHACL and ShEx

The native validation engines are exposed from the purrdf_native extension module:

from purrdf_native import shacl, shex

report = shacl.validate(shapes_ttl=my_shapes, data_nt=my_data)
print(report["conforms"])

result = shex.validate(my_schema_shexc, my_data_ttl,
                       [("https://example.org/alice", "https://example.org/PersonShape")])
print(result["conforms"])

SHACL result dicts keep the stable keys focus, path, value, severity, component, source_shape, and message. See SHACL and ShEx for what the engines cover.

rdflib compatibility

The package ships an rdflib compatibility layer:

from purrdf.compat.rdflib import Graph

For a literal, zero-change import rdflib, there is an opt-in extra:

pip install purrdf[rdflib]

This pulls in the separate purrdf-rdflib distribution, whose top-level rdflib package re-exports the compat surface, so existing third-party code doing import rdflib / from rdflib.namespace import RDF transparently runs on purrdf. Caveat: that shadow claims the rdflib import name and must never be installed alongside the genuine rdflib — the two cannot co-inhabit one environment. It is a separate distribution (never bundled into the main purrdf wheel) precisely so environments that need the real rdflib simply omit it.

The compat layer is gated in CI against rdflib 7.6’s own vendored test suite plus a first-party differential parity suite — see rdflib Compatibility for details and the known, ledgered divergences.

GTS relational exports

The Python package also ships GTS relational exports for analytics pipelines:

from purrdf import gts_to_sqlite, gts_to_duckdb, gts_to_parquet

These project a GTS container into SQLite, DuckDB, or Parquet tables.

Next steps

rdflib Compatibility — the drop-in story in depth.
Validation — SHACL and ShEx from Python.
GTS Graph Transport — the container format the exports read.