nanopub-py

The nanopub-py library provides a high-level, user-friendly Python interface for searching, publishing and retracting nanopublications.

Nanopublications are a formalized and machine-readable way of communicating the smallest possible units of publishable information. See the documentation for more information.

Documentation

Checkout the user documentation 📖

Setup

Install using pip:

pip install nanopub

To publish to the nanopublication network you need to setup your profile. This allows the nanopublication services to identify you. Run the following command in the terminal:

np setup

This will ask you a few questions, then it will use that information to add and store RSA keys to sign your nanopublications with, (optionally) publish a nanopublication with your name and ORCID iD to declare that you are using these RSA keys, and store your ORCID iD to automatically add as author to the provenance of any nanopublication you will publish using this library.

Quick Start

Publishing nanopublications

from rdflib import Graph
from nanopub import Nanopub, NanopubConf, load_profile

# 1. Create the config
np_conf = NanopubConf(
    use_test_server=True,
    profile=load_profile(), # Loads the user profile that was created with `np setup`
    add_prov_generated_time=True,
    attribute_publication_to_profile=True,
)

# 2. Construct a desired assertion (a graph of RDF triples) using rdflib
my_assertion = Graph()
my_assertion.add((
    rdflib.URIRef('www.example.org/timbernerslee'),
    rdflib.RDF.type,
    rdflib.FOAF.Person
))

# 2. Make a Nanopub object with this assertion
np = Nanopub(
    conf=np_conf,
    assertion=my_assertion
)

# 3. Publish the Nanopub object
np.publish()
print(np)

Searching for nanopublications

from nanopub import NanopubClient

# Search for all nanopublications containing the text 'fair'
client = NanopubClient()
results = client.find_nanopubs_with_text('fair')
print(results)

Fetching nanopublications and inspecting them

# Fetch the nanopublication at the specified URI
publication = client.fetch('http://purl.org/np/RApJG4fwj0szOMBMiYGmYvd5MCtRle6VbwkMJUb1SxxDM')

# Print the RDF contents of the nanopublication
print(publication)

# Iterate through all triples in the assertion graph
for s, p, o in publication.assertion:
    print(s, p, o)

Development

See the development page on the documentation website.

Tests

To run tests:

Install dependencies (if not already installed):

pip install pytest

Run tests:

pytest

Test coverage

To generate a test coverage report for this library:

Install dependencies (if not already installed):

pip install coverage pytest

Run the tests with coverage tracking:

coverage run -m pytest

View a terminal summary:

coverage report

Or generate a detailed HTML report

coverage html

License

nanopub-py is free software under the Apache License. See LICENSE.

Copyright

• Copyright (C) 2020 Robin Richardson, Sven van der Burg
• Copyright (C) 2020-2025 the nanopub-py contributors (https://github.com/Nanopublication/nanopub-py/graphs/contributors)
• Copyright (C) 2025 Knowledge Pixels
• Copyright (C) 2025 Acatech