tool ·virtuals

Python collections over any storage.

Dicts, lists, sets, and trees that feel native to Python but live in RocksDB, LMDB, or memory.

Powered byrdbpy RocksDB LMDB

Powersnu.kv

See on GitHub Browse examples

What it is.

The KV foundation under nu.kv. Standalone, dependency-light, usable on its own.

Native feel. Flat KV under.

Point a variable at storage. Read and write like a dict or a list. Nothing materializes until you touch it.

Views compose data-structure logic over flat tuple-key storage. Any store that implements the storage protocol gets every collection for free.

What you get.

SQLAlchemy-shaped ergonomics without the SQL. No ORM, no schema, no server process to run.

Every collection carries the same four properties, backend to backend. The API you learn on an in-memory store is the API you keep on RocksDB.

Backend-agnostic.

RocksDB, LMDB, in-memory. Bring your own.

Transactional.

Full ACID when the backend supports it.

Observable.

Watch changes at any level of the hierarchy.

Lazy.

Nothing loads until you access it.

Sixty seconds of code.

Open a root. Assign nested dicts. Open a list underneath. Commit.

Swap InMemoryStorage for RocksDBStorage and the same lines write to disk.

basic.py

python · 20 locpy

from virtuals import Navigator

from virtuals.views import EagerListView

from virtuals.storages.mem import InMemoryStorage

from virtuals.codecs import NoOpCodec

nav = Navigator(InMemoryStorage(codec=NoOpCodec()))

with nav.storage as storage, storage.transaction() as tx:

root = nav.root(tx)

# feels like a plain dict

root["alice"] = {"age": 30}

root["bob"] = {"age": 25}

# open a list under the same root

scores = root.open_child("scores", EagerListView)

scores.store([100, 200, 300])

scores.append(400)

# swap InMemoryStorage for RocksDB or LMDB, same code

Powers Nu.

virtuals is the substrate. nu.kv wraps it in Refs so state reads and writes look like plain Python.

nu.kv

Persistent state fabric.

Refs over the same KV backends. Transactions and change notifications baked in.

rdbpy

RocksDB bindings for Python.

The Python bindings that back the RocksDB storage. Also a standalone tool.

Like what you see?

The project is young. Star it, join the room, watch what we ship next.

Star on GitHubnustackdev/nu Join DiscordTalk to the team, share what you build.Follow updatesShip notes and small demos on X.