# pocketpy/pocketpy

Portable Python 3.x Interpreter in Modern C for Game Scripting

Repository: https://github.com/pocketpy/pocketpy
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pocketpy
Homepage: https://pocketpy.dev/
Language: C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: header-only, interpreter, language, python, programming-language, scripting-language, vm, c, c11
Last push: 2026-08-25T17:11:17+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 63, longevity 99
- inputs: {"age_days": 1396, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 168, "gap_med": 42, "n_releases_24m": 12}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2110, forks 218 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:14.224400+00:00)

## What it is
pocketpy is a portable Python 3.x interpreter written in C11 with no dependencies beyond the C standard library, designed as a Lua alternative for game scripting. It can be embedded into C/C++ projects via a C-API or pybind11-compatible bindings and runs on platforms from desktop to mobile and embedded devices.

## Use cases
- embed a python interpreter in a c++ game engine
- lua alternative for game scripting
- run python scripts on embedded devices
- scripting engine for godot or raylib
- run python in the browser via wasm
- add user scripting to a flutter app

## When to choose
- you need Python syntax for scripting in a C/C++ application without a full CPython dependency
- you want a lightweight, header-only interpreter that runs on constrained or unusual platforms
- you're replacing Lua with something more expressive in a game engine

## When to avoid
- you need full CPython compatibility, the standard library, or third-party Python packages
- you need maximum performance for compute-heavy workloads
- you only need scripting on standard desktop/server environments where CPython is fine

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: interpreter, programming-language, embedded
- domain: programming-languages, embedded-systems, developer-tools
- platform: cpp, c, cross-platform, wasm, game-engine, embedded, windows
- tags: python-interpreter, game-scripting, lua-alternative, header-only, c11, scripting-language, vm, embeddable, interpreter, game-development, android, ios, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- pocketpy/pocketpy (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:14.224400+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 2026-08-30T08:31:59.798740+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pocketpy/pocketpy (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:14.224400+00:00, sha 01483370c0d9)
  - homepage: https://pocketpy.dev/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:33:51.394150+00:00, sha 8df9599e2384)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.