# taoensso/nippy

Fast serialization library for Clojure

Repository: https://github.com/taoensso/nippy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nippy
Homepage: https://www.taoensso.com/nippy
Language: Clojure
License: EPL-1.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: clojure, epl, taoensso, serialization, edn, encryption, compression
Last push: 2026-08-21T04:14:00+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 93/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 83, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5176, "days_push": 12, "days_rel": 36, "gap_med": 33.0, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1108, forks 63 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:36.762360+00:00)

## What it is
Nippy is a fast, mature serialization library for Clojure, serving as a high-performance drop-in alternative to the Clojure reader for freezing and thawing data. It supports all standard Clojure data types, optional LZ4/Zstandard compression, AES128 encryption, and extension to custom types.

## Use cases
- serialize clojure data structures to bytes for storage
- fast serialization for caching clojure values in redis
- compress and encrypt clojure data before writing to a database
- replace slow clojure reader-based serialization
- persist long-lived clojure data with forward compatibility
- serialize custom clojure types

## When to choose
- you need high-performance serialization of Clojure data at scale
- you want optional compression and encryption built into serialization
- you need guaranteed readability of serialized data across future versions
- you're building on libraries like Carmine, XTDB, or Datalevin

## When to avoid
- you need language-agnostic serialization like JSON or protobuf
- you're not working in Clojure or on the JVM
- you need human-readable data formats

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: serialization, compression, cryptography
- domain: developer-tools, databases, programming-languages
- platform: jvm, jvm-scripting
- tags: clojure, edn, jvm-serialization, lz4, zstandard, aes-encryption, taoensso

## Member repositories
- taoensso/nippy (main) score 93

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:36.762360+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:43:59.719539+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/taoensso/nippy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:36.762360+00:00, sha 95815cf8dada)
  - homepage: https://www.taoensso.com/nippy (fetched 2026-08-29T12:47:27.555392+00:00, sha 8a8714600d8c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.