1# Google API Client
2
3[![PyPI version](https://badge.fury.io/py/google-api-python-client.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/py/google-api-python-client)
4
5This is the [Google API Python client library](https://cloud.google.com/apis/docs/client-libraries-explained#google_api_client_libraries)
6for Google's discovery based APIs. To get started, please see the
7[docs folder](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client/blob/main/docs/README.md).
8
9This library is considered complete and is in maintenance mode. This means
10that we will address critical bugs and security issues but will not add any
11new features.
12
13This library is officially supported by Google.  However, the maintainers of
14this repository recommend using [Cloud Client Libraries for Python](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python),
15where possible, for new code development. For more information, please visit
16[Client Libraries Explained](https://cloud.google.com/apis/docs/client-libraries-explained).
17
18## Version 2.0 Release
19The 2.0 release of `google-api-python-client` includes a substantial reliability
20improvement, compared with 1.x, as discovery documents are now cached in the library
21rather than fetched dynamically. It is highly recommended to upgrade from v1.x to v2.x.
22
23Only python 3.6 and newer is supported. If you are not able to upgrade python, then
24please continue to use version 1.x as we will continue supporting python 2.7+ in
25[v1](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client/tree/v1).
26
27Discovery documents will no longer be retrieved dynamically when
28you call `discovery.build()`. The discovery documents will instead be retrieved
29from the client library directly. New versions of this library are released weekly.
30As a result of caching the discovery documents, the size of this package is at least
3150 MB larger compared to the previous version.
32
33Please see the [Migration Guide](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client/blob/main/UPGRADING.md)
34for more information.
35
36## Documentation
37
38See the [docs folder](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client/blob/main/docs/README.md) for more detailed instructions and additional documentation.
39
40## Other Google API libraries
41
42The maintainers of this repository recommend using
43[Cloud Client Libraries for Python](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python),
44where possible, for new code development due to the following reasons:
45
46With [Cloud Client Libraries for Python](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python):
47- There is a separate client library for each API, so you can choose
48which client libraries to download. Whereas, `google-api-python-client` is a
49single client library for all APIs. As a result, the total package size for
50`google-api-python-client` exceeds 50MB.
51- There are stricter controls for breaking changes to the underlying APIs
52as each client library is focused on a specific API.
53- There are more features in these Cloud Client Libraries as each library is
54focused on a specific API, and in some cases, the libraries are owned by team
55who specialized in that API.
56- Developers will benefit from intellisense.
57
58For more information, please visit
59[Client Libraries Explained](https://cloud.google.com/apis/docs/client-libraries-explained).
60
61Although there are many benefits to moving to
62[Cloud Client Libraries for Python](https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python),
63the maintainers want to emphasize that `google-api-python-client` will continue
64to be supported.
65
66For Google Ads API, we recommend using [Google Ads API Client Library for Python](https://github.com/googleads/google-ads-python/).
67
68For Google Firebase Admin API, we recommend using [Firebase Admin Python SDK](https://github.com/firebase/firebase-admin-python).
69
70## Installation
71
72Install this library in a [virtualenv](https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/latest/) using pip. virtualenv is a tool to
73create isolated Python environments. The basic problem it addresses is one of
74dependencies and versions, and indirectly permissions.
75
76With virtualenv, it's possible to install this library without needing system
77install permissions, and without clashing with the installed system
78dependencies.
79
80### Mac/Linux
81
82```
83pip install virtualenv
84virtualenv <your-env>
85source <your-env>/bin/activate
86<your-env>/bin/pip install google-api-python-client
87```
88
89### Windows
90
91```
92pip install virtualenv
93virtualenv <your-env>
94<your-env>\Scripts\activate
95<your-env>\Scripts\pip.exe install google-api-python-client
96```
97
98## Supported Python Versions
99
100Python 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9 and 3.10 are fully supported and tested. This library may work on later versions of 3, but we do not currently run tests against those versions.
101
102## Unsupported Python Versions
103
104Python < 3.6
105
106## Third Party Libraries and Dependencies
107
108The following libraries will be installed when you install the client library:
109* [httplib2](https://github.com/httplib2/httplib2)
110* [uritemplate](https://github.com/sigmavirus24/uritemplate)
111
112For development you will also need the following libraries:
113* [WebTest](http://webtest.pythonpaste.org/en/latest/index.html)
114* [pyopenssl](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyOpenSSL)
115
116## Contributing
117
118Please see our [Contribution Guide](https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-python-client/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.rst).
119In particular, we love pull requests - but please make sure to sign
120the contributor license agreement.
121