*attrs* is the Python package that will bring back the **joy** of **writing classes** by relieving you from the drudgery of implementing object protocols (aka [dunder methods](https://www.attrs.org/en/latest/glossary.html#term-dunder-methods)).
[Trusted by NASA](https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile/setting-up-and-managing-your-github-profile/customizing-your-profile/personalizing-your-profile#list-of-qualifying-repositories-for-mars-2020-helicopter-contributor-achievement) for Mars missions since 2020!
Its main goal is to help you to write **concise** and **correct** software without slowing down your code.
## Sponsors
*attrs* would not be possible without our [amazing sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/hynek).
Especially those generously supporting us at the *The Organization* tier and higher:
Please consider joining them to help make attrss maintenance more sustainable!
## Example
*attrs* gives you a class decorator and a way to declaratively define the attributes on that class:
```pycon
>>> from attrs import asdict, define, make_class, Factory
>>> @define
... class SomeClass:
... a_number: int = 42
... list_of_numbers: list[int] = Factory(list)
...
... def hard_math(self, another_number):
... return self.a_number + sum(self.list_of_numbers) * another_number
>>> sc = SomeClass(1, [1, 2, 3])
>>> sc
SomeClass(a_number=1, list_of_numbers=[1, 2, 3])
>>> sc.hard_math(3)
19
>>> sc == SomeClass(1, [1, 2, 3])
True
>>> sc != SomeClass(2, [3, 2, 1])
True
>>> asdict(sc)
{'a_number': 1, 'list_of_numbers': [1, 2, 3]}
>>> SomeClass()
SomeClass(a_number=42, list_of_numbers=[])
>>> C = make_class("C", ["a", "b"])
>>> C("foo", "bar")
C(a='foo', b='bar')
```
After *declaring* your attributes, *attrs* gives you:
- a concise and explicit overview of the class's attributes,
- a nice human-readable `__repr__`,
- equality-checking methods,
- an initializer,
- and much more,
*without* writing dull boilerplate code again and again and *without* runtime performance penalties.
**Hate type annotations**!?
No problem!
Types are entirely **optional** with *attrs*.
Simply assign `attrs.field()` to the attributes instead of annotating them with types.
---
This example uses *attrs*'s modern APIs that have been introduced in version 20.1.0, and the *attrs* package import name that has been added in version 21.3.0.
The classic APIs (`@attr.s`, `attr.ib`, plus their serious-business aliases) and the `attr` package import name will remain **indefinitely**.
Please check out [*On The Core API Names*](https://www.attrs.org/en/latest/names.html) for a more in-depth explanation.
## Data Classes
On the tin, *attrs* might remind you of `dataclasses` (and indeed, `dataclasses` [are a descendant](https://hynek.me/articles/import-attrs/) of *attrs*).
In practice it does a lot more and is more flexible.
For instance it allows you to define [special handling of NumPy arrays for equality checks](https://www.attrs.org/en/stable/comparison.html#customization), allows more ways to [plug into the initialization process](https://www.attrs.org/en/stable/init.html#hooking-yourself-into-initialization), and allows for stepping through the generated methods using a debugger.
For more details, please refer to our [comparison page](https://www.attrs.org/en/stable/why.html#data-classes).
## Project Information
- [**Changelog**](https://www.attrs.org/en/stable/changelog.html)
- [**Documentation**](https://www.attrs.org/)
- [**PyPI**](https://pypi.org/project/attrs/)
- [**Source Code**](https://github.com/python-attrs/attrs)
- [**Contributing**](https://github.com/python-attrs/attrs/blob/main/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md)
- [**Third-party Extensions**](https://github.com/python-attrs/attrs/wiki/Extensions-to-attrs)
- **Get Help**: please use the `python-attrs` tag on [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/python-attrs)
### *attrs* for Enterprise
Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.
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