Modern XML & JSON Bindings for Python 3.12+

---

pyxsdata is a complete, modern data binding library for Python 3.12+ allowing developers to access and use XML and JSON documents as simple objects rather than using DOM.

The code generator supports XML schemas, DTD, WSDL definitions, XML & JSON documents. It produces simple dataclasses or Pydantic v2 models with type hints and binding metadata.

The included XML and JSON parser/serializer are highly optimized and adaptable, with multiple handlers and configuration properties.

About pyxsdata (Modern Fork of xsdata)

pyxsdata is a modernized successor and fork of xsdata designed exclusively for Python 3.12+ and actively maintained with modern tooling.

Key Enhancements over Legacy xsdata

• Built for Modern AI & LLMs: Native tree pruning (prune_dump) and dynamic model projection (project_model) allow developers to pipe massive enterprise XML schemas directly into OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and LangChain with 80–90% prompt token reduction and zero JSON schema bloat.
• Significantly Faster Deserialization: Up to 54% faster in pure Python (over 2x throughput) and up to 15x faster with native Rust acceleration (pyxsdata[core]) compared to legacy xsdata.
• Unified Native Pydantic v2: Consolidates xsdata-pydantic directly into the core library under pyxsdata.pydantic with dedicated --output pydantic generation and drop-in parsers/serializers.
• Python 3.12+ Architecture: Exclusively leverages PEP 695 generics (class Foo[T]: ...), type union syntax (X | Y), pattern matching, and kw_only dataclasses.
• Native Rust Acceleration (polyxml): First-class zero-copy Rust parser and serializer backend achieving ~300,000+ objects/sec (pip install "pyxsdata[core]").
• Ultra-Fast C++ pugixml Support: First-class support for constant-memory pull-parsing via pugixml (pip install "pyxsdata[pugixml]").
• Modern Packaging & Tooling: Managed and built with Astral uv, statically type checked with Astral ty with zero diagnostics, and formatted with ruff.
• Active & Responsive Maintenance: Regular dependency updates, modern CI packaging, and active community maintenance.

Performance & Deserializer Benchmarks

pyxsdata provides a decoupled, event-driven deserialization architecture supporting multiple parser backends. You can freely choose between zero-dependency standard library execution, C/C++ acceleration, or native Rust parsing and serialization via PolyXML.

Deserialization Benchmarks (Standard Python @dataclass)

Parsing 10,000 complex XML items (3.36 MB payload) into nested Python @dataclass structures:

Deserializer / Handler	Engine	Extra Dependency	Legacy xsdata	pyxsdata	Throughput	Speedup vs Legacy
CoreXmlParser (CoreEventHandler)	Rust + PyO3 (PolyXML)	pyxsdata[core]	—	32.8 ms	~304,878 objs/s	~10.60x (960% faster)
PugixmlParser (PugixmlEventHandler)	C++ (pugixml)	pyxsdata[pugixml]	126.8 ms	92.4 ms	~108,225 objs/s	~3.76x (276% faster)
LxmlEventHandler	C (lxml)	pyxsdata[lxml]	245.5 ms	218.1 ms	~45,850 objs/s	~1.60x (60% faster)
XmlParser (DefaultXmlHandler)	Pure Python (xml.etree)	—	347.8 ms	312.4 ms	~32,010 objs/s	1.0x (Baseline)

Deserialization Benchmarks (Pydantic v2 BaseModel)

Parsing 1,000 complex XML items into Pydantic v2 BaseModel instances:

Deserializer	Engine	Latency (1,000 items)	Throughput	Speedup
CoreXmlParser (pyxsdata.pydantic)	Rust + PyO3 (quick-xml)	3.2 ms	~311,245 objs/s	~7.67x faster (767%)
XmlParser (pyxsdata.pydantic)	Pure Python (xml.etree)	24.6 ms	~40,580 objs/s	1.0x (Baseline)
Legacy xsdata-pydantic	Pure Python (xml.etree)	38.2 ms	~26,170 objs/s	0.64x (~11.9x slower vs Core)

Real-World Enterprise Benchmark: UCI Entity Message

Parsing nested, production-grade Universal Command and Control Interface (UCI v2.5) Entity telemetry messages (with security markings, timestamps, headers, metadata, and enums):

Deserializer	Engine	Latency / Message	Throughput	Speedup
PolyXML (pyxsdata[core])	Rust + PyO3 (quick-xml)	16.5 µs	~60,360 msgs/s	~11.47x (1,047% faster)
XmlParser (pyxsdata Standard)	Pure Python (xml.etree)	190.0 µs	~5,262 msgs/s	1.0x (Baseline)

Which Deserializer Should You Use?

• CoreXmlParser / CoreEventHandler / CoreXmlSerializer (pip install "pyxsdata[core]"): Recommended for high-throughput production systems, real-time APIs, webhooks, and big data feeds. Driven by native Rust (PolyXML), it bypasses intermediate Python DOM objects and maps tokens directly to Python dataclasses or Pydantic models via CPython C-API at ~300,000 objects/second.
• NativeEventHandler (Built-in standard library): Recommended for zero-dependency deployments, lightweight microservices, and serverless environments (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Run) where installing C/Rust compilers is undesirable.
• LxmlEventHandler (pip install "pyxsdata[lxml]"): Ideal for legacy XML workflows requiring schema DTD validation (load_dtd=True), XInclude resolution (process_xinclude=True), or direct parsing from lxml.etree.Element trees.
• PugixmlEventHandler (pip install "pyxsdata[pugixml]"): Fast C++ pull-parser offering constant-memory streaming for large XML payloads.

Getting started

$ # Install all dependencies including CLI, LXML, SOAP, Pydantic, and native Rust core acceleration
$ pip install "pyxsdata[cli,core,lxml,soap,pydantic]"

$ # Generate models
$ pyxsdata generate tests/fixtures/primer/order.xsd --package tests.fixtures.primer

>>> from tests.fixtures.primer import PurchaseOrder
>>> from pyxsdata.formats.dataclass.parsers import XmlParser, CoreXmlParser
>>>
>>> # Standard pure Python parser:
>>> parser = XmlParser()
>>> order = parser.parse("tests/fixtures/primer/sample.xml", PurchaseOrder)
>>> order.bill_to
Usaddress(name='Robert Smith', street='8 Oak Avenue', city='Old Town', state='PA', zip=Decimal('95819'), country='US')
>>>
>>> # Or ultra-fast Rust-accelerated parser (~290,000+ objs/sec):
>>> core_parser = CoreXmlParser()
>>> order = core_parser.parse("tests/fixtures/primer/sample.xml", PurchaseOrder)

Pydantic Support

Generate Pydantic v2 models directly with --output pydantic:

$ pyxsdata generate tests/fixtures/primer/order.xsd --output pydantic --package myapp.models

>>> from pyxsdata.pydantic.bindings import XmlParser, CoreXmlParser
>>>
>>> # Standard pure Python parser:
>>> parser = XmlParser()
>>> order = parser.from_string(xml_text, PurchaseOrder)
>>> order.model_dump()
>>>
>>> # Or ultra-fast Rust-accelerated parser (~310,000+ objs/sec):
>>> core_parser = CoreXmlParser()
>>> order = core_parser.from_string(xml_text, PurchaseOrder)
>>> order.model_dump()

🤖 Built for Modern AI & LLMs

Enterprise XML schemas (ISO 20022, UBL, HL7, FIX) are massive, deeply nested, and token-heavy. Feeding them directly to LLMs often hits strict JSON schema limits or explodes your token bill.

pyxsdata.pydantic provides native utilities specifically built for AI workflows:

1. Token-Efficient Prompt Ingestion (prune_dump)

Strip namespace noise, empty structures, and unused branches with glob dot-paths before sending data to an LLM:

from pyxsdata.pydantic import XmlParser, prune_dump

# Parse complex enterprise XML
order = XmlParser().from_string(xml_text, EnterprisePurchaseOrder)

# Prune down to just what the LLM needs (80-90% token reduction!):
prompt_payload = prune_dump(
    order,
    include=["id", "order_date", "customer.name", "items.*.sku", "items.*.price"],
    exclude_namespaces=["http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#"],  # Drop signatures
    exclude_none=True,  # Drop unpopulated fields
    exclude_empty=True, # Drop empty lists [] and dicts {}
    key_style="python", # Clean snake_case keys (no XML namespace mangling)
)

# Clean, token-efficient JSON ready for OpenAI, Anthropic, or Gemini:
# {"id": "ORD-001", "order_date": "2026-09-13", "customer": {"name": "Acme Corp"}, "items": [...]}

2. Zero-Bloat LLM Structured Outputs (project_model)

When asking an LLM to generate data via response_format or Tool Calling, don't overwhelm it with a 500-field JSON schema. Dynamically project a lightweight Pydantic v2 sub-model:

from pyxsdata.pydantic import XmlSerializer, project_model

# Dynamically create a lean sub-model with only the fields the LLM should extract:
LLMPurchaseOrder = project_model(
    EnterprisePurchaseOrder,
    include={"id", "order_date", "customer.name", "items.sku", "items.quantity"},
)

# Pass directly to OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini Structured Outputs:
response = client.beta.chat.completions.parse(
    model="gpt-4o-mini",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Extract order from email..."}],
    response_format=LLMPurchaseOrder,
)
lean_order: LLMPurchaseOrder = response.choices[0].message.parsed

# Re-hydrate back into the full enterprise model and serialize to valid XML!
full_order = EnterprisePurchaseOrder.model_validate(lean_order.model_dump())
xml_output = XmlSerializer().render(full_order)

Check the documentation for more ✨✨✨

Features

Code Generator

• XML Schemas 1.0 & 1.1
• WSDL 1.1 definitions with SOAP 1.1 bindings
• DTD external definitions
• Directly from XML and JSON Documents
• Extensive configuration to customize output
• Pluggable code writer for custom output formats (Standard Dataclasses, Pydantic v2)
• Zero cold-start package overhead with --lazy-load (PEP 562 on-demand class loading)

Default Output

• Pure Python 3.12+ dataclasses or Pydantic models with metadata
• Modern type hints with support for forward references and unions
• Enumerations and inner classes
• Support namespace qualified elements and attributes

Data Binding

• XML and JSON parser, serializer
• PyCode serializer
• Multiple parser handlers: Native xml.etree, C lxml, C++ pugixml, and Rust PolyXML
• Native Rust zero-copy acceleration (PolyXML) for ~300k objs/sec deserialization and serialization
• Support wildcard elements and attributes
• Support xinclude statements and unknown properties
• Native Pydantic v2 support (pyxsdata.pydantic)
• Fully type-checked with Astral ty

AI & LLM Integration

• Token-efficient instance pruning (prune_dump) with glob dot-path, namespace URI, and prefix filtering
• Dynamic sub-model projection (project_model) preserving constraints and types for zero-bloat OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini Structured Outputs
• Seamless round-trip validation from lean LLM outputs back into enterprise XML serializers

Changelog: 0.0.0

• Modernized for Python 3.12+ minimum.
• Consolidated xsdata-pydantic into core library as pyxsdata.pydantic.
• Replaced mypy with Astral's static type checker ty.
• Standardized CLI tool to pyxsdata.
• Documentation powered by Zensical.