ic-basilisk 0.8.3

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Basilisk

Write Python canisters for the Internet Computer. Forked from Kybra.

Features

• Write IC canisters in pure Python using @query and @update decorators
• Two backends: CPython 3.13 (default, fast builds) and RustPython
• Fast template builds: CPython canisters build in seconds, not minutes
• IC system APIs: ic.caller(), ic.time(), ic.print(), ic.canister_balance(), etc.
• Chunked code upload for canisters larger than 10MB
• StableBTreeMap for persistent key-value storage across upgrades
• Principal, Opt, Vec, Record, Variant type support

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• dfx (IC SDK)
• Python 3.10+
• WASI SDK (for CPython backend)

Install

pip install ic-basilisk

Create a new project

basilisk new my_project
cd my_project

This creates a ready-to-deploy project:

my_project/
  src/main.py    -- your canister code
  dfx.json       -- IC project config

The generated canister code

from basilisk import query, update, text, nat64, ic

counter = 0

@query
def greet(name: text) -> text:
    return f"Hello, {name}! The counter is at {counter}."

@query
def get_counter() -> nat64:
    return counter

@update
def increment() -> nat64:
    global counter
    counter += 1
    return counter

@query
def get_time() -> nat64:
    return ic.time()

@query
def whoami() -> text:
    return str(ic.caller())

Deploy and call

dfx start --background
dfx deploy

dfx canister call my_project greet '("World")'
# ("Hello, World! The counter is at 0.")

dfx canister call my_project increment
# (1 : nat64)

dfx canister call my_project whoami
# ("2vxsx-fae")

Python Backends

Basilisk supports two Python backends:

# CPython 3.13 (default) -- fast template builds
basilisk new my_project

# RustPython -- legacy, full Rust build
basilisk new --backend rustpython my_project

CPython vs RustPython

	CPython 3.13	RustPython
Build time	~seconds (template)	~60-120s (Cargo build)
canister_init	~51M instructions (1% of budget)	~200-500M instructions
Cycles per update call	~7M	~35-70M (estimated)
Python compatibility	Full (reference implementation)	Partial
Python version	3.13	~3.10 (partial)

CPython is ~5-10x cheaper per call due to its optimized C interpreter. Queries are free on the IC regardless of backend.

Benchmark Results

Measured on a local IC replica (dfx start). All times are query call round-trip in milliseconds.

Benchmark	RustPython (ms)	CPython (ms)	Speedup
fibonacci(100)	29.8	26.0	1.1x
fibonacci(500)	16.3	8.1	2.0x
fibonacci(1000)	13.6	8.8	1.5x
string_processing(100)	11.6	8.8	1.3x
string_processing(500)	15.7	10.1	1.6x
dict_operations(100)	16.6	9.4	1.8x
dict_operations(500)	22.0	12.8	1.7x
json_roundtrip(50)	88.1	16.0	5.5x
json_roundtrip(100)	173.6	22.0	7.9x
json_roundtrip(200)	517.6	30.9	16.8x
sort_benchmark(1000)	15.9	7.6	2.1x
list_comprehension(100)	45.2	9.6	4.7x

CPython is faster across the board, with the largest gains on JSON (up to 16.8x) and list comprehensions (up to 4.7x). See examples/benchmark/ for the full benchmark suite.

CLI Reference

basilisk new [--backend cpython|rustpython] <project_name>   # scaffold a project
basilisk build                                                # build in current dir
basilisk --version                                            # print version

Available Types

from basilisk import (
    query, update,                    # method decorators
    text, blob, null, void,           # basic types
    nat, nat8, nat16, nat32, nat64,   # unsigned integers
    int8, int16, int32, int64,        # signed integers
    float32, float64,                 # floats
    Opt, Vec, Record, Variant,        # compound types
    Principal,                        # IC principal
    ic,                               # IC system API
)

IC System API

from basilisk import ic

ic.caller()              # caller's Principal
ic.time()                # current timestamp (nanoseconds)
ic.id()                  # canister's own Principal
ic.print(msg)            # debug print (visible in replica logs)
ic.trap(msg)             # abort with error message
ic.canister_balance()    # current cycle balance
ic.canister_balance128() # cycle balance as 128-bit int

Disclaimer

Basilisk may have unknown security vulnerabilities due to the following:

• Limited production deployments on the IC
• No extensive automated property tests
• No independent security reviews/audits

Documentation

For detailed architecture notes, see CPYTHON_MIGRATION_NOTES.md. For the original Kybra documentation, see The Kybra Book.

Discussion

Feel free to open issues.

License

See LICENSE and NOTICE.