Reference library

Python Code Samples

Medium snippets you can copy, study, and run in the browser editor.

68 matches
API design & gRPC medium

How to Build an Idempotency-Key POST Handler in Python

Python HTTP server mock that accepts POST requests and deduplicates them using an Idempotency-Key header, returning the same response for repeated calls.

http-server idempotency api-mock
Python
import hashlib
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from urllib.parse import urlparse


class MockAPI(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    responses = {}

    def do_POST(self):
        length = int(self.headers.get("Content-Length", 0))
        body = self.rfile.read(length).decode("utf-8")
…
14 0 Open
API design & gRPC medium

How to Mock a Webhook Subscribe Callback URL in Python

Mock a webhook subscribe callback URL using Python's http.server to receive and parse POST requests sent by webhook providers.

webhook http-server mock
Python
import json
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer

class WebhookHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_POST(self):
        content_length = int(self.headers.get('Content-Length', 0))
        payload = json.loads(self.rfile.read(content_length)) if content_length else {}
        
        print…
15 0 Open
API design & gRPC medium

Implement If-Match Precondition Update in Python

A mock resource store that uses the If-Match header's ETag to guard updates, preventing overwrites from stale clients.

api etag optimistic-concurrency
Python
from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Optional


@dataclass
class Resource:
    id: str
    version: int = 1
    data: str = ""
    etag: str = "etag-1"


class MockResourceStore:
    def __init__(self):
        self.resources = {}

    def update(self, resource_id: str, new_data: str, if_match: Optiona…
13 0 Open
Streaming & messaging medium

How to Mock NATS Subject Hierarchies with Wildcards in Python

Build a lightweight NATS-style pub/sub mock that matches subject hierarchies with '*' and '>' wildcards for tests or prototypes.

nats pubsub wildcards
Python
# Mock a simplified NATS subject hierarchy with wildcard matching
# Supports: exact match, '*' (single token), '>' (tail wildcard)

class NATSSubjectMock:
    def __init__(self):
        self.subscriptions = {}  # subject -> list of callbacks

    def subscribe(self, subject, callback):
        self.subscriptions.setd…
13 0 Open
Streaming & messaging medium

How to Mock Offset Commit Auto vs Manual in Python

Demonstrates a Kafka-style offset commit function with auto/manual modes and tests it using unittest.mock.patch.

unittest mocking kafka
Python
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch

def commit_offsets(topic_partition_offsets, auto_commit=False):
    """Manually commit offsets or simulate auto-commit."""
    if auto_commit:
        print(f"Auto-committing offsets: {topic_partition_offsets}")
        return {"status": "auto_committed"}
    
    print(f"Manuall…
15 0 Open
Caching & Redis medium

How to Mock Redis EXPIRE, TTL, and PERSIST in Python

A lightweight in-memory MockRedis class that simulates Redis key expiration, TTL, and persist behavior for tests and local development.

redis mock ttl
Python
import time

class MockRedis:
    def __init__(self):
        self._store = {}
        self._expiry = {}

    def set(self, key, value):
        self._store[key] = value
        self._expiry.pop(key, None)
        return True

    def expire(self, key, ttl_seconds):
        if key not in self._store:
            retur…
14 0 Open
Caching & Redis medium

How to Mock zlib Compression for Cache Values in Python

Compress cache values with zlib and mock the compress function in unit tests to simulate cache behavior.

zlib mock caching
Python
import zlib
from unittest.mock import patch

def compress_value(data: bytes) -> bytes:
    """Compress data using zlib and return the compressed bytes."""
    return zlib.compress(data)

def decompress_value(compressed: bytes) -> bytes:
    """Decompress zlib data and return the original bytes."""
    return zlib.deco…
12 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to Implement Hedged Requests in Python

This code demonstrates a hedged request pattern using threading, which sends duplicate calls and returns the first result that arrives within a timeout.

hedged-requests threading timeout
Python
import time
from unittest.mock import Mock

def hedged_request(call, timeout=0.05):
    """Execute two duplicate calls, return first result within timeout."""
    result_container = {}

    def run_and_store():
        result_container['result'] = call()
        result_container['done'] = True

    # Simulate slow cal…
16 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to Implement a Token Bucket Rate Limiter per Client IP in Python

Implements a simple sliding-window rate limiter using a dictionary of timestamp lists per client IP to limit requests per window.

rate-limiting sliding-window ip
Python
from time import time
from collections import defaultdict

class RateLimiter:
    def __init__(self, max_requests: int, window_seconds: int):
        self.max_requests = max_requests
        self.window_seconds = window_seconds
        self.clients = defaultdict(list)

    def allow(self, ip: str) -> bool:
        now…
13 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to Implement an Adaptive Rate Limiter in Python

Build an adaptive rate limiter that adjusts request intervals dynamically based on recent error rates, slowing down when failures spike.

rate-limiting backoff adaptive
Python
import time
import random

class AdaptiveRateLimiter:
    """Simple adaptive rate limiter that reduces requests when error rate is high."""
    
    def __init__(self, min_interval=0.1, max_interval=2.0, error_threshold=0.3):
        self.min_interval = min_interval
        self.max_interval = max_interval
        sel…
12 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

How to implement rate limiting per API key in Python

A simple sliding-window rate limiter that tracks request timestamps per API key and rejects requests exceeding the configured limit.

rate-limiting api time-window
Python
import time

API_RATE_LIMITS = {"api_key_1": 5, "api_key_2": 3}  # max requests per window
WINDOW_SECONDS = 10

class RateLimiter:
    def __init__(self, limits, window):
        self.limits = limits
        self.window = window
        self.requests = {key: [] for key in limits}

    def allow(self, api_key):
       …
13 0 Open
Reliability & rate limiting medium

Token bucket rate limiter in Python (in-memory)

Implement a thread-safe in-memory token bucket rate limiter that throttles requests based on a steady refill rate.

rate-limiting token-bucket threading
Python
import time
import threading


class TokenBucket:
    def __init__(self, capacity, refill_rate, refill_interval=1.0):
        self.capacity = capacity
        self.tokens = capacity
        self.refill_rate = refill_rate
        self.refill_interval = refill_interval
        self.last_refill = time.monotonic()
       …
14 0 Open
Observability & SRE medium

How to Group Alerts by Time Window in Python

Group alert occurrences that fall within a sliding time window per alert key, reducing noise and summarizing bursts into single events.

alerts grouping monitoring
Python
from collections import defaultdict
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

def group_alerts(alerts, window_minutes=10):
    """Group alerts that occur within the same time window."""
    alerts_by_key = defaultdict(list)
    
    for alert in alerts:
        key = alert["key"]
        timestamp = alert["timestamp"]…
12 0 Open
Big data & Spark medium

Accumulators Global Counter Mock in Python

Shows an accumulator-style global counter with a mock patch to control its value in tests.

accumulator global state mock
Python
import unittest
from unittest.mock import patch

# Module-level global counter accumulator
counter = 0

def increment(by=1):
    """Increment the global counter in place (accumulator pattern)."""
    global counter
    counter += by
    return counter

def reset():
    """Reset the counter to zero."""
    global count…
16 0 Open
A/B testing & experimentation medium

Check Covariate Balance in Python

Compute standardized mean differences and KS tests to check covariate balance between treatment and control groups in Python.

covariate balance ab-testing
Python
import numpy as np
from scipy import stats

def balance_check(treatment, covariate):
    """Check covariate balance between treatment and control groups."""
    treat_vals = covariate[treatment == 1]
    control_vals = covariate[treatment == 0]
    
    # Standardized mean difference
    pooled_std = np.sqrt((np.var(t…
15 0 Open
Database scaling & optimization medium

How to Mock SQLite executemany When Batch Inserting in Python

Batch insert many rows into SQLite with executemany and mock the cursor for isolated tests.

sqlite3 executemany mock
Python
import sqlite3
from unittest.mock import Mock, patch

def insert_users(conn, users):
    """Insert multiple user records using executemany."""
    cursor = conn.cursor()
    cursor.executemany(
        "INSERT INTO users (name, age) VALUES (?, ?)",
        users
    )
    conn.commit()
    return cursor.rowcount

if _…
15 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Create and Verify HMAC SHA256 API Signatures in Python

Generate and verify HMAC-SHA256 signatures for API requests using Python's hmac, hashlib, and base64 modules.

hmac sha256 authentication
Python
import hmac
import hashlib
import base64
import json
from datetime import datetime, timezone

def create_api_signature(secret_key: str, method: str, path: str, timestamp: str, body: dict = None) -> str:
    """Create HMAC-SHA256 signature for API request."""
    payload = {
        "method": method.upper(),
        "p…
14 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Mock HTTP Responses to Verify HSTS Headers in Python

This code demonstrates how to use unittest.mock to intercept and capture HTTP response headers, specifically the Strict-Transport-Security header, from a mocked HTTPServer handler for security validation.

hsts mock security
Python
from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, HTTPServer
from unittest.mock import patch

class StrictTransportMock(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
    def do_GET(self):
        self.send_response(200)
        self.send_header("Strict-Transport-Security", "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains")
        self.end_headers()
  …
13 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Mock a CORS Allow Origin Whitelist in Python

A decorator-based mock of a CORS middleware that whitelists allowed origins and injects proper Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers while rejecting others.

cors security middleware
Python
from functools import wraps


class MockCORSConfig:
    def __init__(self, allowed_origins):
        self.allowed_origins = allowed_origins

    def is_origin_allowed(self, origin):
        return origin in self.allowed_origins


def cors_middleware(config):
    def decorator(handler):
        @wraps(handler)
        …
16 0 Open
Auth & security at scale medium

How to Mock a Redis Session Store in Python

An in-memory RedisSessionStore class with TTL-based expiry, get/set/delete/exists methods, and JSON field support—perfect for testing and prototyping without a live Redis.

redis session mock
Python
import time
import json
from collections import defaultdict


class RedisSessionStore:
    """In-memory mock of a Redis-backed session store."""

    def __init__(self, ttl=3600):
        self._data = defaultdict(dict)
        self._expires = {}
        self._ttl = ttl

    def set(self, session_id, field, value):
   …
12 0 Open

Browse by section

Each section groups closely related Python snippets.

Guide: free Python code samples library

Copy-ready Python snippets for learners and developers

PythonSkillset code samples are short, focused examples organised by topic and difficulty. Every snippet is server-rendered HTML — readable by search engines and easy to copy. Open any sample, read the notes, copy the code, then press Try in editor to run it in the browser with Pyodide.

How to use this library

  1. Pick a topic section — strings, lists, files, functions, and more
  2. Open a sample, read How it works, and copy the code block
  3. Run it in the IDE, tweak values, then take a related quiz or tutorial lesson

Samples vs tutorials and challenges

Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.