pywcif

Read, query, check and write World Cube Association (WCA) speedcubing competition data in Python. pywcif works with WCIF, the format the WCA website, Groupifier and WCA Live use for competitions: competitors, events, rounds, results, schedules and group assignments, as fully typed models.

Useful for competition organizers, WCA delegates and anyone building cubing tools: scorecards, group and schedule printouts, results analysis, or checking a competition before it is announced.

pip install pywcif

Quick start

from pywcif import fetch_wcif, format_result

comp = fetch_wcif("WC2025")  # any competition id from the WCA website
print(comp.name, "-", len(comp.get_accepted_competitors()), "competitors")

# Podium of the 3x3x3 final
final = comp.get_event("333").rounds[-1]
podium = sorted((r for r in final.results if r.ranking in (1, 2, 3)), key=lambda r: r.ranking)
for result in podium:
    person = comp.get_person(registrant_id=result.person_id)
    print(result.ranking, person.name, format_result(result.average, "333", is_average=True))

Everything is a typed object with autocomplete: comp.persons, comp.events, round.results, comp.schedule.venues, and so on.

Common tasks

Load and save WCIF files

from pywcif import dump_wcif, load_wcif

comp = load_wcif("competition.json")  # also accepts a Path, JSON text, bytes or a dict
dump_wcif(comp, "competition-out.json")  # writes the same document back, unchanged

Saving is lossless: fields pywcif doesn't know about, such as Groupifier extensions, are written back exactly as they were read.

Find people

comp.get_person(wca_id="2019PAPA01")  # or registrant_id=..., wca_user_id=...
comp.get_accepted_competitors("333")  # accepted and registered for 3x3x3
comp.get_first_timers()  # competitors without a WCA ID
comp.get_staff()  # people with a role or a staff assignment

A competitor's schedule, in local time

person = comp.get_person(wca_id="2019PAPA01")
for entry in comp.get_person_schedule(person.registrant_id):
    when = entry.local_start.strftime("%a %H:%M")
    print(when, entry.activity.name, entry.assignment.assignment_code)

Sat 09:30 3x3x3 Cube Round 1 Group 1 competitor
Sat 11:30 3x3x3 Fewest Moves Round 1 Group 1 competitor
Sat 14:00 3x3x3 Multi-Blind Group 1 competitor
Sat 15:30 3x3x3 Cube Round 2 Group 1 competitor

Times are converted from UTC to the venue's timezone.

Turn result numbers into readable text

WCIF stores results as integers. format_result knows each event's encoding:

from pywcif import MultiBlindResult, format_result

format_result(6543, "333")  # '1:05.43'
format_result(-1, "333")  # 'DNF'
format_result(28, "333fm")  # '28'     (single: moves)
format_result(2833, "333fm", is_average=True)  # '28.33'  (mean)
format_result(880325201, "333mbf")  # '12/13 54:12'

MultiBlindResult.from_wcif_int(880325201).points  # 11

Check a competition for mistakes

from pywcif import audit_competition

for issue in audit_competition(comp):
    print(issue.severity, issue.code, issue.message)

error CUTOFF_GE_TIMELIMIT Round 333-r1 of event 333 has a cutoff of 60000 cs, which is not below its time limit of 60000 cs
error UNMAPPED_ACTIVITY_ID Eleni Konstantinou is assigned to activity 42, which is not in the schedule

The audit never stops loading or saving; it only reports. It checks:

Private data (organizers and delegates)

comp = fetch_wcif("YourCompetition2026", oauth_token="...")  # WCA OAuth token

This includes emails, birthdates and registration comments. The token is only sent over https.

Good to know

• Python names, WCIF JSON. Attributes are snake_case (person.wca_id), JSON keys are camelCase (wcaId). Both are accepted when loading.
• New WCA values don't break anything. Fields such as event ids, roles and assignment codes come with enums for autocomplete (EventId, AssignmentCode, ...), but also accept any other string.
• Use to_wcif_dict() / to_wcif_json() to export, not model_dump(exclude_none=True). They keep the null values WCIF requires and leave out private fields that were never present.
• Activity codes such as 333-r1-g2 can be parsed with ActivityCode.parse() or activity.parsed_code.

Links

• Changelog
• WCIF specification
• Contributing
• Security policy

MIT licensed.