PyPI Package Information

Retrieve comprehensive metadata for Python packages from the Python Package Index (PyPI).

Usage

bash

npx tsx scripts/info.ts <package-name> [options]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
`package-name`	Yes	The exact package name (case-insensitive)

Options

Option	Description
`--no-cache`	Bypass cache and fetch fresh data from PyPI
`--releases`	Show detailed release history and file information
`--files`	Show distribution files for the latest release

Output

code

django
==================================================
Latest Version: 5.0.1
License: BSD
Author: Django Software Foundation

Summary:
A high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean,
pragmatic design.

Project URLs:
  Documentation: https://docs.djangoproject.com/
  Repository: https://github.com/django/django
  Bug Tracker: https://code.djangoproject.com/

Python Requirement: >=3.10

Dependencies (latest):
  - asgiref >=3.6.0,<4
  - sqlparse >=0.2.2

Run from the pypi-json plugin directory: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/pypi-json/

API Query

Request Format

code

GET https://pypi.org/pypi/{package}/json

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
`package`	Yes	The exact package name (case-insensitive on PyPI)
`format`	No	Always use `json` for structured data

Response Codes

Status	Meaning
`200 OK`	Package found and metadata returned
`404 Not Found`	Package does not exist on PyPI

Package Metadata

The API returns comprehensive package information structured in these main sections:

Core Package Information

•
info - Package metadata object
- •name - Package name
- •version - Latest version number
- •summary - Short description
- •description - Full description
- •license - License identifier
- •author - Package author name
- •author_email - Author contact email
- •maintainer - Current maintainer
- •maintainer_email - Maintainer email
- •home_page - Project homepage URL
- •project_urls - Dictionary of project-related URLs (documentation, repository, bug tracker, etc.)
- •keywords - Space-separated keywords
- •classifiers - List of PyPI classifiers (topic, audience, license, etc.)
- •requires_python - Required Python version(s) as version specifier

Release Information

•
releases - Object mapping version strings to arrays of distribution files
- •Each release contains file info: filename, URL, MD5, SHA256, size, file type
- •Includes both wheel (.whl) and source (.tar.gz) distributions
- •File type indicators: bdist_wheel, sdist

Latest Release Details

•
urls - Array of distribution files for the latest version
- •filename - Distribution file name
- •url - Direct download URL
- •hashes - Dict of hash algorithms and values
- •requires_python - Python version requirement
- •yanked - Whether this release is yanked (deprecated)
- •upload_time_iso_8601 - Publication timestamp

Output Format

code

django
==================================================
Latest Version: 5.0.1
License: BSD
Author: Django Software Foundation

Summary:
A high-level Python web framework that encourages rapid development and clean,
pragmatic design.

Project URLs:
  Documentation: https://docs.djangoproject.com/
  Repository: https://github.com/django/django
  Bug Tracker: https://code.djangoproject.com/

Python Requirement: >=3.10
Classifiers:
  - Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable
  - Environment :: Web Environment
  - Framework :: Django :: 5.0
  ... (and more)

Latest Release Files (with --files flag):
  Django-5.0.1-py3-none-any.whl [wheel] - 8.2 MB
  Django-5.0.1.tar.gz [source (tar.gz)] - 9.1 MB

Examples

Get package metadata:

code

https://pypi.org/pypi/requests/json

Get specific version:

code

https://pypi.org/pypi/requests/2.31.0/json

Common Uses

•Package Discovery: Find package descriptions, authors, and project URLs
•Dependency Analysis: Check Python version requirements and release history
•Version Information: Identify stable releases vs pre-release versions
•License Verification: Determine package licensing and compliance
•Availability Check: Verify if a package exists on PyPI

Caching

Package metadata is cached for 6 hours. Use the --no-cache flag to bypass the cache.

Related APIs

For more information, see:

•PyPI JSON API Documentation
•PyPI REST API Docs

Error Handling

Package not found: If the package doesn't exist on PyPI, the API returns a 404 status code.

Network errors: Connection timeouts or unreachable hosts. Use --no-cache to retry from PyPI.

Invalid package name: PyPI is case-insensitive for package names. The API normalizes names by:

•Converting to lowercase
•Treating hyphens (-), underscores (_), and dots (.) as equivalent
•Examples: my-package, my_package, my.package all refer to the same package