python-zeroconf

May 20, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

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Documentation <https://python-zeroconf.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>_.

This is fork of pyzeroconf, Multicast DNS Service Discovery for Python, originally by Paul Scott-Murphy (https://github.com/paulsm/pyzeroconf), modified by William McBrine (https://github.com/wmcbrine/pyzeroconf).

The original William McBrine's fork note::

This fork is used in all of my TiVo-related projects: HME for Python
(and therefore HME/VLC), Network Remote, Remote Proxy, and pyTivo.
Before this, I was tracking the changes for zeroconf.py in three
separate repos. I figured I should have an authoritative source.

Although I make changes based on my experience with TiVos, I expect that
they're generally applicable. This version also includes patches found
on the now-defunct (?) Launchpad repo of pyzeroconf, and elsewhere
around the net -- not always well-documented, sorry.

Compatible with:

  • Bonjour
  • Avahi

Compared to some other Zeroconf/Bonjour/Avahi Python packages, python-zeroconf:

  • isn't tied to Bonjour or Avahi
  • doesn't use D-Bus
  • doesn't force you to use particular event loop or Twisted (asyncio is used under the hood but not required)
  • is pip-installable
  • has PyPI distribution
  • has an optional cython extension for performance (pure python is supported as well)

Python compatibility

  • CPython 3.10+
  • PyPy 3.10+

Versioning

This project uses semantic versioning.

Status

This project is actively maintained.

Traffic Reduction

Before version 0.32, most traffic reduction techniques described in https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6762#section-7 where not implemented which could lead to excessive network traffic. It is highly recommended that version 0.32 or later is used if this is a concern.

IPv6 support

IPv6 support is relatively new and currently limited, specifically:

  • InterfaceChoice.All is an alias for InterfaceChoice.Default on non-POSIX systems.
  • Dual-stack IPv6 sockets are used, which may not be supported everywhere (some BSD variants do not have them).
  • Listening on localhost (::1) does not work. Help with understanding why is appreciated.

How to get python-zeroconf?

The easiest way to install python-zeroconf is using pip::

pip install zeroconf

How do I use it?

Here's an example of browsing for a service:

.. code-block:: python

from zeroconf import ServiceBrowser, ServiceListener, Zeroconf


class MyListener(ServiceListener):

    def update_service(self, zc: Zeroconf, type_: str, name: str) -> None:
        print(f"Service {name} updated")

    def remove_service(self, zc: Zeroconf, type_: str, name: str) -> None:
        print(f"Service {name} removed")

    def add_service(self, zc: Zeroconf, type_: str, name: str) -> None:
        info = zc.get_service_info(type_, name)
        print(f"Service {name} added, service info: {info}")


zeroconf = Zeroconf()
listener = MyListener()
browser = ServiceBrowser(zeroconf, "_http._tcp.local.", listener)
try:
    input("Press enter to exit...\n\n")
finally:
    zeroconf.close()

.. note::

Discovery and service registration use *all* available network interfaces by default.
If you want to customize that you need to specify ``interfaces`` argument when
constructing ``Zeroconf`` object (see the code for details).

If you don't know the name of the service you need to browse for, try:

.. code-block:: python

from zeroconf import ZeroconfServiceTypes
print('\n'.join(ZeroconfServiceTypes.find()))

See examples directory for more.

Changelog

Changelog <CHANGELOG.md>_

License

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 or later (LGPL-2.1-or-later).

The full text of LGPL 2.1 is included in the COPYING <COPYING>_ file. You may, at your option, use this library under the terms of any later version of the LGPL published by the Free Software Foundation. The canonical SPDX identifier for this project is LGPL-2.1-or-later, as declared in pyproject.toml.