Installation

pip install blackboardx

The distribution is named blackboardx and the import name is blackboard.

from blackboard import create_model

blackboardx requires Python 3.11 or later, and the base install has no runtime dependencies. InMemoryStore holds the record in the process, and SqliteStore uses sqlite3 from the standard library. The package ships py.typed, so type checkers use its annotations without a stub package.

Extras

An extra names a third-party package the base install leaves out.

Extra	Installs	Gives you
postgres	psycopg[binary,pool]	PostgresStore
mongodb	pymongo	MongoStore
notifier	httpx	HttpxTransport, which HttpNotifier uses by default
agent	httpx	BoardClient and AsyncBoardClient, for an agent calling a blackboard
conformance	pytest	blackboard.conformance, for holding a store of your own to the suite

A deployment keeps the record in a database it already runs, and each adapter needs that database's driver:

pip install 'blackboardx[postgres]'
pip install 'blackboardx[mongodb]'

Naming a store whose extra is not installed raises an ImportError saying which extra supplies it: MongoStore needs the 'mongodb' extra: pip install 'blackboardx[mongodb]'. Storage covers the choice of store.

A blackboard that reaches its agents over HTTP adds the transport:

pip install 'blackboardx[postgres,notifier]'

Notifying agents covers what that gives you. Supplying your own Transport needs no extra, because the interface is in the base install, and only the httpx implementation of it is left out.

An agent calling a blackboard installs the agent extra, and nothing else:

pip install 'blackboardx[agent]'

That pulls no database driver. An agent reads and writes through the blackboard, never through its database, so it has no use for a driver. Write an agent covers the client.

Answering an agent's requests needs no extra at all. blackboard.server depends on nothing and is in the base install.

Writing a store of your own adds the suite it is held to:

pip install 'blackboardx[conformance]'

An adapter of your own covers what to subclass.

Several extras at once are separated by a comma. There is no all extra: postgres and mongodb are alternative drivers for the same role, so a name meaning every driver would invite a deployment to carry one it never uses.

What the package contains, and what it does not

Ships	Does not ship
InMemoryStore, SqliteStore, PostgresStore, MongoStore	Any HTTP server, and any route it would serve
The BoardStore protocol, for any other database	Any agent implementation
The control component, and create_model and attach_model	Any process supervisor
HttpNotifier, which sends to agents over HTTP	Any database server, credential, or migration tool
BoardService, which answers an agent's requests	Any authentication or authorisation
BoardClient and AsyncBoardClient, which an agent calls a blackboard with
The conformance suite, for a store of your own
The wire bodies that both halves encode and decode	Any queue that survives a restart
SystemClock and ManualClock

Supported versions

The test suite runs on 3.11, 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14 on every change. A version leaving upstream support is removed in a release that says so.