maxminddb-rust 0.5.0

Rust-based Python binding for MaxMind DB - high-performance alternative to maxminddb

maxminddb-rust

A Rust-backed Python module for MaxMind DB files.

It is API-compatible with the official maxminddb package and keeps the same programming model.

Performance

This project is intended to be in the same performance class as the maxminddb C extension while keeping full compatibility.

Performance depends on the database, lookup pattern, and hardware. Run the benchmark scripts in benchmarks/ against your own databases to measure expected throughput in your environment.

The reader is thread-safe and can be shared across threads for parallel lookups.

Features

API Compatibility

This package provides API compatibility with the official maxminddb Python module.

Supported:

• Reader class with get(), get_with_prefix_len(), metadata(), and close() methods
• open_database() function
• Context manager support (with statement)
• MODE_* constants (MODE_AUTO, MODE_MMAP, etc.)
• InvalidDatabaseError exception
• Metadata class with all attributes and computed properties
• Support for string IP addresses and ipaddress.IPv4Address/IPv6Address objects
• closed attribute
• Iterator support (__iter__) for iterating all database records

Extensions (not in the original package):

• get_many() for batch lookups
• get_path() for retrieving a specific field from a record (for example, ('country', 'iso_code')) without decoding the entire record

Not yet implemented:

• MODE_FILE
• File descriptor support in constructor

Installation

From PyPI

pip install maxminddb-rust

From Source

maturin develop --release

Usage

This module follows the same API as maxminddb, with a different import name:

import maxminddb_rust

# Open database
reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb")

# Lookup single IP
result = reader.get("8.8.8.8")
print(result)

# Lookup with prefix length
result, prefix_len = reader.get_with_prefix_len("8.8.8.8")
print(f"Result: {result}, Prefix: {prefix_len}")

# Use with ipaddress objects
import ipaddress
ip = ipaddress.IPv4Address("8.8.8.8")
result = reader.get(ip)

# Access metadata
metadata = reader.metadata()
print(f"Database type: {metadata.database_type}")
print(f"Node count: {metadata.node_count}")

# Context manager support
with maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb") as reader:
    result = reader.get("1.1.1.1")
    print(result)

Batch Lookup (Extension)

get_many() is an extension that is not available in the original maxminddb module:

import maxminddb_rust

reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb")

# Lookup multiple IPs at once
ips = ["8.8.8.8", "1.1.1.1", "208.67.222.222"]
results = reader.get_many(ips)

for ip, result in zip(ips, results):
    print(f"{ip}: {result}")

Selective Field Lookup (Extension)

get_path() retrieves a specific field from a record:

import maxminddb_rust

reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb")

# Retrieve specific field without decoding the entire record
# Path elements can be strings (map keys) or integers (array indices)
iso_code = reader.get_path("8.8.8.8", ("country", "iso_code"))
print(f"ISO Code: {iso_code}")

# Accessing arrays by index
# e.g., reader.get_path("8.8.8.8", ("subdivisions", 0, "iso_code"))

Iterator Support

Iterate over all networks in the database:

import maxminddb_rust

reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb")

# Iterate over all networks in the database
for network, data in reader:
    print(f"{network}: {data['country']['iso_code']}")

Database Modes

Choose between memory-mapped files (default) and in-memory mode:

import maxminddb_rust

# MODE_AUTO: Uses memory-mapped files (default)
reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb", mode=maxminddb_rust.MODE_AUTO)

# MODE_MMAP: Explicitly use memory-mapped files
reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database("/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb", mode=maxminddb_rust.MODE_MMAP)

# MODE_MEMORY: Load entire database into memory
reader = maxminddb_rust.open_database(
    "/var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb", mode=maxminddb_rust.MODE_MEMORY
)

Examples

The examples/ directory contains complete working examples:

• basic_usage.py: simple IP lookups, metadata access, and database lifecycle
• context_manager.py: using with for automatic cleanup
• iterator_demo.py: iterating over all networks in the database
• batch_processing.py: batch lookups with get_many()

Run any example:

uv run python examples/basic_usage.py
uv run python examples/batch_processing.py

Documentation

• API documentation: classes and methods include docstrings. Use help():

  import maxminddb_rust
  help(maxminddb_rust.open_database)
  help(maxminddb_rust.Reader.get)
  

• Type hints: full type stub file (maxminddb_rust.pyi) is included for IDE autocomplete and type checking

• Changelog: See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes

• Migration Guide: See MIGRATION.md for migrating from the official maxminddb package

Benchmarking

Benchmark scripts are consolidated in the benchmarks/ directory.

Run the included benchmarks (after building from source):

# Single lookup benchmark
uv run python benchmarks/benchmark.py --file /var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb --count 250000

# Comprehensive benchmark across multiple databases
uv run python benchmarks/benchmark_comprehensive.py --count 250000

# Batch lookup benchmark
uv run python benchmarks/benchmark_batch.py --file /var/lib/GeoIP/GeoIP2-City.mmdb --batch-size 100

# Parallel lookup benchmark (shared Reader across threads, default DB set)
uv run python benchmarks/benchmark_parallel.py --count 500000 --workers 1,2,4,8

# get() vs get_path() benchmark
uv run python benchmarks/benchmark_path.py --file /var/lib/GeoIP/GeoLite2-City.mmdb --count 250000

Testing

This project includes comprehensive tests, including upstream compatibility tests from MaxMind-DB-Reader-python.

# Initialize test data submodule (first time only)
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Run all tests
uv run pytest

# Run with verbose output
uv run pytest -v

For contributor information including development setup, code quality tools, and test syncing, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

For upstream test compatibility and syncing instructions, see tests/maxmind/README.md.

License

ISC License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, code quality guidelines, and pull request procedures.