Tigris Python SDK

Use Tigris from Python via boto3 plus the tigris-boto3-ext extension package. Standard S3 calls work unchanged; the extension layers on Tigris-specific features — snapshots, bucket forking, in-place object rename, and the Bundle API for batch fetches — by injecting headers on activated boto3 events.

For Django uploads via django-storages, see [./resources/django.md](./resources/django.md).

Quick Start

# 1. Install CLI & authenticate
npm install -g @tigrisdata/cli
tigris login

# 2. Create bucket and access key
tigris buckets create my-bucket
tigris access-keys create "my-bucket-key"
# ⚠ Save the Secret Access Key — shown only once
tigris access-keys assign tid_xxx --bucket my-bucket --role Editor

# 3. Install Python deps
pip install boto3 tigris-boto3-ext

# .env
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=https://t3.storage.dev
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=tid_xxx
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=tsec_yyy
AWS_REGION=auto

import boto3
from tigris_boto3_ext import (
    TigrisSnapshotEnabled, create_snapshot, get_snapshot_version,
)

s3 = boto3.client("s3")  # picks up env vars

# Create a snapshot-enabled bucket (header injection scoped to the block)
with TigrisSnapshotEnabled(s3):
    s3.create_bucket(Bucket="my-bucket")

# Take a snapshot
result = create_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", snapshot_name="daily-backup")
version = get_snapshot_version(result)

See Getting Started with CLI for detailed setup steps.

Getting Started with CLI

Step 1: Install CLI

npm install -g @tigrisdata/cli
tigris --version

t3 is an alias for tigris — all commands work with either.

Step 2: Authenticate

tigris login    # opens browser for OAuth
tigris whoami   # verify

For CI/CD:

tigris configure --access-key <key> --access-secret <secret>

Step 3: Create Bucket

tigris buckets create my-bucket

Buckets are private and global by default. Use --public for anonymous reads, --locations to pin regions.

Step 4: Create Access Key

tigris access-keys create "my-bucket-key"

Outputs an Access Key ID (tidxxx) and Secret Access Key (tsecyyy). The secret is shown only once.

Step 5: Assign Key to Bucket

tigris access-keys assign tid_xxx --bucket my-bucket --role Editor

Step 6: Configure Environment

# .env (add to .gitignore)
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=https://t3.storage.dev
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=tid_xxx
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=tsec_yyy
AWS_REGION=auto

boto3 reads AWSENDPOINTURL_S3 natively (boto3 ≥ 1.34) — no client-side overrides needed if you set it.

Step 7: Install Python Dependencies

pip install boto3 tigris-boto3-ext

Requires Python 3.9+ and boto3 ≥ 1.26.0.

boto3 Client Setup

import boto3

# Reads AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, etc. from env
s3 = boto3.client("s3")

# Or configure explicitly
s3 = boto3.client(
    "s3",
    endpoint_url="https://t3.storage.dev",
    aws_access_key_id="tid_xxx",
    aws_secret_access_key="tsec_yyy",
    region_name="auto",
)

tigris-boto3-ext works with any boto3 S3 client — it registers handlers on before-sign.s3.* to inject Tigris headers when activated. Calls outside an activated scope pass through unchanged.

Usage Patterns

tigris-boto3-ext exposes three ways to scope Tigris-specific behavior. Pick whichever fits the call site:

Context Managers

from tigris_boto3_ext import (
    TigrisSnapshotEnabled, TigrisSnapshot, TigrisFork, TigrisRename,
)

# Enable snapshots on bucket creation
with TigrisSnapshotEnabled(s3):
    s3.create_bucket(Bucket="my-bucket")

# List snapshots for a bucket
with TigrisSnapshot(s3, "my-bucket"):
    snapshots = s3.list_buckets()

# Read from a specific snapshot version
with TigrisSnapshot(s3, "my-bucket", snapshot_version="12345"):
    obj = s3.get_object(Bucket="my-bucket", Key="file.txt")

# Fork a bucket (current state or from a snapshot)
with TigrisFork(s3, "source-bucket", snapshot_version="12345"):
    s3.create_bucket(Bucket="forked-bucket")

# Rename in place — keep scope tight
with TigrisRename(s3):
    s3.copy_object(
        Bucket="my-bucket",
        CopySource="my-bucket/old.txt",
        Key="new.txt",
    )

Decorators

from tigris_boto3_ext import snapshot_enabled, with_snapshot, forked_from, with_rename

@snapshot_enabled
def make_snapshot_bucket(s3, name):
    return s3.create_bucket(Bucket=name)

@with_snapshot("my-bucket", snapshot_version="12345")
def read_old_config(s3):
    return s3.get_object(Bucket="my-bucket", Key="config.json")

@forked_from("source-bucket", snapshot_version="12345")
def make_fork(s3, name):
    return s3.create_bucket(Bucket=name)

@with_rename
def rename(s3, bucket, old, new):
    return s3.copy_object(Bucket=bucket, CopySource=f"{bucket}/{old}", Key=new)

Helper Functions

from tigris_boto3_ext import (
    create_snapshot_bucket,
    create_snapshot,
    list_snapshots,
    create_fork,
    get_object_from_snapshot,
    get_snapshot_version,
    list_objects_from_snapshot,
    head_object_from_snapshot,
    has_snapshot_enabled,
    get_bucket_info,
    rename_object,
)

create_snapshot_bucket(s3, "my-bucket")

result = create_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", snapshot_name="backup-1")
version = get_snapshot_version(result)

snapshots = list_snapshots(s3, "my-bucket")
create_fork(s3, "fork-bucket", "my-bucket", snapshot_version=version)

obj = get_object_from_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", "file.txt", version)
objects = list_objects_from_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", version, Prefix="data/")
metadata = head_object_from_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", "file.txt", version)

rename_object(s3, "my-bucket", "old.txt", "new.txt")

# Inspect bucket
if has_snapshot_enabled(s3, "my-bucket"):
    info = get_bucket_info(s3, "my-bucket")
    # info: { snapshot_enabled, fork_source_bucket, fork_source_snapshot }

Snapshots

Point-in-time bucket copies. Tigris stores only deltas, so they're cheap.

# 1. Enable snapshots when creating the bucket
create_snapshot_bucket(s3, "production-data")

# 2. Take a named snapshot
result = create_snapshot(s3, "production-data", snapshot_name="daily-2026-05-07")
version = get_snapshot_version(result)

# 3. Read from the snapshot — historical view
with TigrisSnapshot(s3, "production-data", snapshot_version=version):
    obj = s3.get_object(Bucket="production-data", Key="config.json")

# 4. List all snapshots
snaps = list_snapshots(s3, "production-data")
for b in snaps.get("Buckets", []):
    print(b["Name"])

Snapshots must be enabled at bucket creation — there is no retroactive enable.

Bucket Forking

Forks are independent buckets created from the live state or a snapshot of a source bucket. Storage is shared until divergence, so forks are essentially free.

# Fork from current state
with TigrisFork(s3, "source-bucket"):
    s3.create_bucket(Bucket="forked-bucket")

# Fork from a snapshot — common for testing against prod data
create_fork(s3, "test-bucket", "production-data", snapshot_version=version)

# Inspect lineage
info = get_bucket_info(s3, "test-bucket")
print(info["fork_source_bucket"], info["fork_source_snapshot"])

Common uses: test/staging environments off prod data, time-travel debugging from a pre-incident snapshot, per-experiment workspaces in ML pipelines.

In-Place Object Rename

Tigris implements rename as a copy_object plus the X-Tigris-Rename: true header — only the key changes, no data rewrite.

from tigris_boto3_ext import TigrisRename, rename_object

# Helper form (recommended)
rename_object(s3, "my-bucket", "old-name.txt", "new-name.txt")

# Context manager — every copy_object inside the block becomes a rename
with TigrisRename(s3):
    s3.copy_object(
        Bucket="my-bucket",
        CopySource="my-bucket/old.txt",
        Key="new.txt",
    )

Keep TigrisRename / withrename scope tight. Any copyobject inside the block becomes a rename — unrelated copies will not behave as expected.

Conditional Writes

Tigris supports the standard S3 precondition headers — If-Match, If-None-Match, If-Modified-Since, If-Unmodified-Since — for optimistic concurrency and create-if-not-exists semantics. These are pure boto3 parameters; tigris-boto3-ext adds nothing on top because boto3 already passes them through.

from botocore.exceptions import ClientError

# Create-only (fail if the key already exists)
try:
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket="my-bucket",
        Key="config.json",
        Body=b'{"version": 1}',
        IfNoneMatch="*",
    )
except ClientError as e:
    if e.response["Error"]["Code"] == "PreconditionFailed":
        print("Object already exists")
    else:
        raise

# Optimistic concurrency — read, modify, write only if unchanged
head = s3.head_object(Bucket="my-bucket", Key="config.json")
etag = head["ETag"]

new_body = b'{"version": 2}'
try:
    s3.put_object(
        Bucket="my-bucket",
        Key="config.json",
        Body=new_body,
        IfMatch=etag,
    )
except ClientError as e:
    if e.response["Error"]["Code"] == "PreconditionFailed":
        # Someone else wrote the object since we read it — retry the read-modify-write
        ...
    else:
        raise

Failed preconditions surface as a ClientError with Error.Code == "PreconditionFailed" (HTTP 412). Catch that specific code — don't swallow all ClientErrors, since the same exception type covers NoSuchKey, throttling, etc.

IfMatch / IfNoneMatch work on putobject, copyobject, getobject, headobject, and delete_object.

Bundle API

Fetch many objects in a single streaming tar archive. Designed for ML training where per-object roundtrips dominate latency.

import tarfile
from tigris_boto3_ext import bundle_objects, BundleError, BUNDLE_ON_ERROR_FAIL

keys = [f"dataset/train/img_{i:05d}.jpg" for i in range(1000)]
response = bundle_objects(s3, "my-dataset-bucket", keys)

with tarfile.open(fileobj=response, mode="r|") as tar:
    for member in tar:
        if member.name == "__bundle_errors.json":
            continue  # error manifest — skip
        f = tar.extractfile(member)
        if f is not None:
            data = f.read()
            # feed to training pipeline

Error modes:

• Default: missing/failed objects are reported in __bundle_errors.json inside the tar; partial success is OK.
• onerror=BUNDLEONERRORFAIL: any failure raises BundleError with status_code and body. Use for inference where every key must be present.

try:
    response = bundle_objects(s3, "my-bucket", keys, on_error=BUNDLE_ON_ERROR_FAIL)
except BundleError as e:
    print(f"Bundle failed (HTTP {e.status_code}): {e.body}")

Always open the tar in streaming mode (mode="r|"). Don't materialize the whole archive in memory.

Common Workflows

Backup and Restore

import boto3
from tigris_boto3_ext import (
    create_snapshot_bucket, create_snapshot, create_fork, get_snapshot_version,
)

s3 = boto3.client("s3")

create_snapshot_bucket(s3, "production-data")

# Daily snapshot
result = create_snapshot(s3, "production-data", snapshot_name="daily-backup")
version = get_snapshot_version(result)

# Restore: fork the snapshot into a recovered bucket
create_fork(s3, "restored-data", "production-data", snapshot_version=version)

Testing Against Production Data

result = create_snapshot(s3, "production-data", snapshot_name="for-tests")
version = get_snapshot_version(result)
create_fork(s3, "test-data", "production-data", snapshot_version=version)

try:
    # Writes to test-data don't touch production
    s3.put_object(Bucket="test-data", Key="experiment.txt", Body=b"...")
finally:
    s3.delete_bucket(Bucket="test-data")

Time-Travel Queries

from tigris_boto3_ext import get_object_from_snapshot, list_objects_from_snapshot

old = get_object_from_snapshot(s3, "my-bucket", "config.json", "12345")
config = old["Body"].read()

old_logs = list_objects_from_snapshot(
    s3, "my-bucket", "12345", Prefix="logs/2025/12/",
)
for obj in old_logs.get("Contents", []):
    print(obj["Key"])

How It Works

tigris-boto3-ext registers handlers on boto3's before-sign.s3.* event to inject Tigris headers when a context/decorator is active:

HeadBucket responses include X-Tigris-Enable-Snapshot, X-Tigris-Fork-Source-Bucket, and X-Tigris-Fork-Source-Bucket-Snapshot — surfaced via getbucketinfo() and hassnapshotenabled().

Critical Rules

Always:

• Enable snapshots at bucket creation — there is no retroactive enable
• Capture getsnapshotversion(result) immediately after create_snapshot — you need it to read or fork
• Stream Bundle API responses (mode="r|") — never load the whole tar in memory
• Skip __bundle_errors.json when iterating tar members
• Keep TigrisRename / withrename scope tight — every copyobject inside becomes a rename

Never:

• Hard-code region_name to a real AWS region — use auto
• Use the production bucket directly for tests when a fork costs nothing
• Forget AWSENDPOINTURL_S3 — without it boto3 hits AWS S3, not Tigris

Known Issues

CLI Quick Reference

t3 is an alias for tigris.

# Auth
tigris login
tigris whoami

# Buckets
tigris buckets create <name> [--public] [--locations <region>]
tigris buckets list
tigris buckets delete <name>

# Access keys
tigris access-keys create "<name>"
tigris access-keys assign <tid_xxx> --bucket <name> --role Editor

# Snapshots & forks (also doable from Python via this skill)
tigris buckets snapshot <bucket> --name <snapshot-name>
tigris buckets snapshots <bucket>
tigris buckets fork <new> --source <bucket> [--snapshot <version>]

Related Skills

• file-storage — General Tigris setup and the JS/TS @tigrisdata/storage SDK
• tigris-snapshots-forking — CLI-side snapshot/fork workflows
• tigris-agent-kit — Agent storage workflows (forks for sandboxes, checkpoints)
• tigris-sdk-guide — Picking SDKs across languages

Official Documentation

• Package: https://pypi.org/project/tigris-boto3-ext/
• Repo: https://github.com/tigrisdata/tigris-boto3-ext
• Tigris docs: https://www.tigrisdata.com/docs/