To install wasmtime-py, run this command in your terminal:

$ pip install wasmtime

The package currently supports 64-bit builds of Python 3.8+ on x86_64 Windows, macOS, and Linux, as well as on arm64 macOS and Linux.

wasmtime-py follows the Wasmtime versioning scheme, with a new major version being released every month. As with Wasmtime itself, new major versions of wasmtime-py can contain changes that break code written against the previous major version.

Since every installed Python package needs to agree on a single version of wasmtime-py, to use the upper bound on the major version in the dependency requirement should be bumped reguarly, ideally as soon as a new wasmtime-py version is released. To automate this process it is possible to use the whitequark/track-pypi-dependency-version script. YoWASP/runtime is an example of a project that automatically publishes releases on PyPI once a new version of wasmtime-py is released if it passes the testsuite.

In this example, we compile and instantiate a WebAssembly module and use it from Python:

from wasmtime import Store, Module, Instance, Func, FuncType

store = Store()
module = Module(store.engine, """
  (module
    (func $hello (import "" "hello"))
    (func (export "run") (call $hello))
  )
""")

def say_hello():
    print("Hello from Python!")
hello = Func(store, FuncType([], []), say_hello)

instance = Instance(store, module, [hello])
run = instance.exports(store)["run"]
run(store)

Be sure to check out the examples directory, which has other usage patterns as well as the full API documentation of the wasmtime-py package.

If your WebAssembly module works this way, then you can also import the WebAssembly module directly into Python without explicitly compiling and instantiating it yourself:

# Import the custom loader for `*.wasm` files
import wasmtime.loader

# Assuming `your_wasm_file.wasm` is in the python load path...
import your_wasm_file

# Now you're compiled and instantiated and ready to go!
print(your_wasm_file.run())

The wasmtime package has initial support for running WebAssembly components in Python with high-level bindings. WebAssembly components are defined by the component model and are a flagship feature under development for Wasmtime and its bindings. Components enable communication between the host and WebAssembly guests with richer types than the numerical primitives supported by core WebAssembly. For example with a component Python can pass a string to wasm and back.

Components are represented as *.wasm binaries in the same manner as core WebAssembly modules. With a component binary you can generate Python bindings with:

$ python -m wasmtime.bindgen the-component.wasm --out-dir the-bindings

An example of using this can be done with the wasm-tools repository. For example with this core wasm module at demo.wat:

(module
  (import "python" "print" (func $print (param i32 i32)))
  (memory (export "memory") 1)

  (func (export "run")
    i32.const 100   ;; base pointer of string
    i32.const 13    ;; length of string
    call $print)

  (data (i32.const 100) "Hello, world!")
)

and with this *.wit interface at demo.wit:

package my:demo

world demo {
  import python: interface {
    print: func(s: string)
  }

  export run: func()
}

And this demo.py script

from demo import Root, RootImports, imports
from wasmtime import Store

class Host(imports.Python):
    def print(self, s: str):
        print(s)

def main():
    store = Store()
    demo = Root(store, RootImports(Host()))
    demo.run(store)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

$ wasm-tools component embed demo.wit demo.wat -o demo.wasm
$ wasm-tools component new demo.wasm -o demo.component.wasm
$ python -m wasmtime.bindgen demo.component.wasm --out-dir demo
$ python demo.py
Hello, world!

The generated package demo has all of the requisite exports/imports into the component bound. The demo package is additionally annotated with types to assist with type-checking and self-documentation as much as possible.

See CONTRIBUTING.md.