How-To

This document provides some recipes for common programming tasks.

How do you write a TCP server?

Here is an example of a TCP echo server:

from curio import run, spawn, tcp_server

async def echo_client(client, addr):
    print('Connection from', addr)
    while True:
        data = await client.recv(100000)
        if not data:
            break
        await client.sendall(data)
    print('Connection closed')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    run(tcp_server, '', 25000, echo_client)

This server uses sockets directly but supports concurrent connections. If you want to a use a file-like streams interface, use the as_stream() method like this:

from curio import run, spawn, tcp_server

async def echo_client(client, addr):
    print('Connection from', addr)
    s = client.as_stream()
    while True:
        data = await s.read(100000)
        if not data:
            break
        await s.write(data)
    print('Connection closed')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    run(tcp_server, '', 25000, echo_client)

How do you write a UDP Server?

Here is an example of a UDP echo server using sockets:

import curio
from curio import socket

async def udp_echo(addr):
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
    sock.bind(addr)
    while True:
        data, addr = await sock.recvfrom(10000)
        print('Received from', addr, data)
        await sock.sendto(data, addr)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curio.run(udp_echo, ('', 26000))

There are no high-level functions (i.e., similar to tcp_server()) to run a UDP server.

How do you make an outgoing connection?

Curio provides some high-level functions for making outgoing connections. For example, here is a task that makes a connection to www.python.org:

import curio

async def main():
    sock = await curio.open_connection('www.python.org', 80)
    async with sock:
        await sock.sendall(b'GET / HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: www.python.org\r\n\r\n')
        chunks = []
        while True:
            chunk = await sock.recv(10000)
            if not chunk:
                break
            chunks.append(chunk)

    response = b''.join(chunks)
    print(response.decode('latin-1'))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curio.run(main)

If you run this, you should get some output that looks similar to this:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Server: Varnish
Retry-After: 0
Location: https://www.python.org/
Content-Length: 0
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2015 17:33:34 GMT
Via: 1.1 varnish
Connection: close
X-Served-By: cache-dfw1826-DFW
X-Cache: HIT
X-Cache-Hits: 0
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=63072000; includeSubDomains

Ah, a redirect to HTTPS. Let’s make a connection with SSL applied to it:

import curio

async def main():
    sock = await curio.open_connection('www.python.org', 443,
                                       ssl=True,
                                       server_hostname='www.python.org')
    async with sock:
        await sock.sendall(b'GET / HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: www.python.org\r\n\r\n')
        chunks = []
        while True:
            chunk = await sock.recv(10000)
            if not chunk:
                break
            chunks.append(chunk)

    response = b''.join(chunks)
    print(response.decode('latin-1'))

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curio.run(main)

It’s worth noting that the primary purpose of Curio is merely concurrency and I/O. You can create sockets and you can apply things such as SSL to them. However, Curio doesn’t implement any application-level protocols such as HTTP. Think of Curio as a base-layer for doing that.

How do you write an SSL-enabled server?

Here’s an example of a server that speaks SSL:

import curio
from curio import ssl
import time

KEYFILE = 'privkey_rsa'       # Private key
CERTFILE = 'certificate.crt'  # Server certificate

async def handler(client, addr):
    client_f = client.as_stream()

    # Read the HTTP request
    async for line in client_f:
       line = line.strip()
       if not line:
           break
       print(line)

    # Send a response
    await client_f.write(
b'''HTTP/1.0 200 OK\r
Content-type: text/plain\r
\r
If you're seeing this, it probably worked. Yay!
''')
    await client_f.write(time.asctime().encode('ascii'))
    await client.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    ssl_context = ssl.create_default_context(ssl.Purpose.CLIENT_AUTH)
    ssl_context.load_cert_chain(certfile=CERTFILE, keyfile=KEYFILE)
    curio.run(curio.tcp_server, '', 10000, handler, ssl=ssl_context)

The curio.ssl submodule is a wrapper around the ssl module in the standard library. It has been modified slightly so that functions responsible for wrapping sockets return a socket compatible with Curio. Otherwise, you’d use it the same way as the normal ssl module.

To test this out, point a browser at https://localhost:10000 and see if you get a readable response. The browser might yell at you with some warnings about the certificate if it’s self-signed or misconfigured in some way. However, the example shows the basic steps involved in using SSL with Curio.

How do you perform a blocking operation?

If you need to perform a blocking operation that runs outside of Curio, use run_in_thread() to have it run in a backing thread. For example:

import time
import curio

result = await curio.run_in_thread(time.sleep, 100)

How do you perform a CPU intensive operation?

If you need to run a CPU-intensive operation, you can either run it in a thread (see above) or have it run in a separate process. For example:

import curio

def fib(n):
    if n <= 2:
       return 1
    else:
       return fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)

...
result = await curio.run_in_process(fib, 40)

Note: Since the operation in question runs in a separate interpreter, it should not involve any shared state. Make sure you pass all required information in the function’s input arguments.

How do you apply a timeout?

You can make any curio operation timeout using timeout_after(seconds, coro). For example:

from curio import timeout_after, TaskTimeout
try:
     result = await timeout_after(5, coro, args)
except TaskTimeout:
     print('Timed out')

Since wrapping a timeout in an exception is common, you can also use ignore_after() which returns None instead. For example:

from curio import ignore_after

result = await ignore_after(5, coro, args)
if result is None:
    print('Timed out')

How can a timeout be applied to a block of statements?

Use the timeout_after() or ignore_after() functions as a context manager. For example:

try:
    async with timeout_after(5):
        statement1
        statement2
        ...
except TaskTimeout:
    print('Timed out')

This is a cumulative timeout applied to the entire block. After the specified number of seconds has elapsed, a TaskTimeout exception will be raised in the current operation blocking in Curio.

How do you shield operations from timeouts or cancellation?

To protect a block of statements from being aborted due to a timeout or cancellation, use disable_cancellation() as a context manager like this:

async def func():
    ...
    async with disable_cancellation():
        await coro1()
        await coro2()
        ...

    await blocking_op()      # Cancellation delivered here

How can tasks communicate?

Similar to threads, one of the easiest ways to communicate between tasks is to use a queue. For example:

import curio

async def producer(queue):
    for n in range(10):
        await queue.put(n)
    await queue.join()
    print('Producer done')

async def consumer(queue):
    while True:
        item = await queue.get()
        print('Consumer got', item)
        await queue.task_done()

async def main():
    q = curio.Queue()
    prod_task = await curio.spawn(producer, q)
    cons_task = await curio.spawn(consumer, q)
    await prod_task.join()
    await cons_task.cancel()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curio.run(main)

How can a task and a thread communicate?

The most straightforward way to communicate between Curio tasks and threads is to use Curio’s UniversalQueue class:

import curio
import threading

# A thread - standard python
def producer(queue):
    for n in range(10):
        queue.put(n)
    queue.join()
    print('Producer done')

# A task - Curio
async def consumer(queue):
    while True:
        item = await queue.get()
        print('Consumer got', item)
        await queue.task_done()

async def main():
    q = curio.UniversalQueue()
    prod_task = threading.Thread(target=producer, args=(q,))
    prod_task.start()
    cons_task = await curio.spawn(consumer, q)
    await curio.run_in_thread(prod_task.join)
    await cons_task.cancel()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    curio.run(main)

A UniversalQueue can be used by any combination of threads or Curio tasks. The same API is used in both cases. However, when working with coroutines, queue operations must be prefaced by an await keyword.

How can synchronous code set an asynchronous event?

If you need to coordinate events between async and synchronous code, use a UniversalEvent object. For example:

from curio import UniversalEvent

evt = UniversalEvent()

def sync_func():
    ...
    evt.set()

async def async_func():
    await evt.wait()
    ...

A UniversalEvent allows setting and waiting in both synchronous and asynchronous code. You can flip the roles around as well:

def sync_func():
    evt.wait()
    ...

async def async_func():
    ...
    await evt.set()

Note: Waiting on an event in a synchronous function should take place in a separate thread to avoid blocking the kernel loop.

How do you catch signals?

In Python, signals can only be caught and processed in the main thread by a signal handler installed via the signal built-in module. To communicate a signal to Curio, you can use a UniversalEvent as shown in the previous recipe. For example:

from curio import UniversalEvent, run
import signal

# Set up signal handling
sigint_evt = UniversalEvent()

def handle_sigint(signo, frame):
    sigint_evt.set()

signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, handle_sigint)

# Wait for a single in Curio code
async def main():
    print("Waiting for a signal")
    await sigint_evt.wait()
    print("Got it!")

run(main)

Many of these features can be abstracted into classes if you wish. For example, here is a class (courtesy of Keith Dart):

class SignalEvent(UniversalEvent):
    def __init__(self, *signos):
        super().__init__()
        self._old = old = {}
        for signo in signos:
            orig = signal.signal(signo, self._handler)
            old[signo] = orig

    def _handler(self, signo, frame):
        self.set()

    def __del__(self):
        while self._old:
            signo, handler = self._old.popitem()
            try:
                signal.signal(signo, handler)
            except TypeError:  # spurious TypeError happens during shutdown.
                pass

sigint_evt = SignalEvent(signal.SIGINT)

async def main():
    print("Waiting for a signal")
    await sigint_evt.wait()
    print("Got it!")

run(main)

In general, signal handling can be an extremely complicated affair that interacts strangely with the rest of the environment. Because of this, Curio chooses to stay out of the way entirely. Instead, you can use UniversalEvent or UniversalQueue to communicate from a signal handler to code running in Curio.

How do you run external commands in a subprocess?

Curio provides it’s own version of the subprocess module. Use the check_output() function as you would in normal Python code. For example:

from curio import subprocess

async def func():
    ...
    out = await subprocess.check_output(['cmd','arg1','arg2','arg3'])
    ...

The check_output() function takes the same arguments and raises the same exceptions as its standard library counterpart. The underlying implementation is built entirely using the async I/O primitives of Curio. It’s fast and no backing threads are used.

How can you communicate with a subprocess over a pipe?

Use the curio.subprocess module just like you would use the normal subprocess module. For example:

from curio import subprocess

async def func():
     ...
     p = subprocess.Popen(['cmd', 'arg1', 'arg2', ...],
                          stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
     await p.stdin.write(b'Some data')
     ...
     resp = await p.stdout.read(maxsize)

In this example, the p.stdin and p.stdout streams are replaced by Curio-compatible file streams. You use the same I/O operations as before, but make sure you preface them with await.

How can two different Python interpreters send messages to each other?

Use a Curio Channel instance to set up a communication channel. For example, you could make a producer program like this:

# producer.py
from curio import Channel, run

async def producer(ch):
    c = await ch.accept(authkey=b'peekaboo')
    for i in range(10):
        await c.send(i)          # Send some data
    await c.send(None)

if __name__ == '__main__':
   ch = Channel(('localhost', 30000))
   run(producer, ch)

Now, make a consumer program:

# consumer.py
from curio import Channel, run

async def consumer(ch):
    c = await ch.connect(authkey=b'peekaboo')
    while True:
        msg = await c.recv()
        if msg is None:
            break
        print('Got:', msg)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    ch = Channel(('localhost', 30000))
    run(consumer, ch)

Run each program separately and you should see messages received by the consumer program.

Channels allow arbitrary Python objects to be sent and received as messages as long as they are compatible with pickle.

How does a coroutine get its enclosing Task instance?

Use the current_task() function like this:

from curio import current_task
...
async def func():
    ...
    myself = await current_task()
    ...

Once you have a reference to the Task, it can be passed around and use in other operations. For example, a different task could use it to cancel.

How do you use contextvars?

contextvars is a library added in Python 3.7 that can provide access to per-task global variables (similar in purpose to features like thread locals). Curio does not support contextvars by default because its behavior is somewhat ill-defined when mixing coroutines and threads. However, if you know what you’re doing, you can opt into using it as follows:

from curio.task import ContextTask
from curio import run

async def main():
    # ... whatever
    ...

run(main, taskcls=ContextTask)

In this case, each Curio task will have its own set of context variables.