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Installation

This page installs desflow and runs a first simulation that needs no containers.

Install the Package

Install the core library with uv or pip:

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# The desflow command
uv tool install desflow

# Or the library, in a uv project
uv add desflow

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pip install desflow

desflow was called dynamic-des before 0.20.0. The package, the Python module and the command are now all named desflow. Code that imports dynamic_des and scripts that run ddes keep working with a warning until 0.30.0, and the Changelog says what to change.

Connectors and input fitting are optional extras. For example, uv add "desflow[kafka,parquet]" or pip install "desflow[kafka,parquet]", and uv tool install "desflow[kafka,parquet]" for the desflow command:

Extra Adds
kafka Kafka ingress and egress
confluent Avro with the Confluent Schema Registry (includes kafka)
glue Avro with the AWS Glue Schema Registry (includes kafka)
redis Redis ingress and egress
postgres PostgreSQL ingress and egress
parquet Parquet and JSONL files on local disk, S3-compatible storage, Google Cloud Storage or Azure Blob Storage
iceberg Apache Iceberg tables through a REST catalog, a SQL catalog on SQLite or PostgreSQL, or the Glue catalog
fit scipy and matplotlib, for input fitting with desflow fit
all Every extra above

On Python 3.15, the kafka, confluent and glue extras build aiokafka, and the iceberg extra builds pyiceberg and zstandard, from source, because those packages publish no wheel for 3.15 yet. A build from source needs a C compiler.

Run desflow on its own to list its commands. Command Line uses each command on one shop, the model of the experiment example, and links the full help of each.

Run an Example

The local example models a shop that receives and packs customer orders. The simulation prints events and telemetry to the terminal. The example is written three ways: as a YAML blueprint, with the builder and with the low-level API. Each version runs in real time and ends on its own after 30 seconds. Pick the way you write models, then follow uv or pip:

Quick Start

desflow examples get downloads the example at the release you install, into a folder of its own. Pick uv or pip:

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# 1. Install
uv tool install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api yaml
cd local/yaml

# 3. Run it
desflow run local.yaml

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# 1. Install
pip install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api yaml
cd local/yaml

# 3. Run it
desflow run local.yaml

Quick Start

desflow examples get downloads the example at the release you install, into a folder of its own. Pick uv or pip:

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# 1. Install
uv tool install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api builder
cd local/builder

# 3. Run it
uv run --no-project --with desflow local_example.py

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# 1. Install
pip install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api builder
cd local/builder

# 3. Run it
python local_example.py

Quick Start

desflow examples get downloads the example at the release you install, into a folder of its own. Pick uv or pip:

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# 1. Install
uv tool install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api low-level
cd local/low-level

# 3. Run it
uv run --no-project --with desflow local_example.py

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# 1. Install
pip install desflow

# 2. Download the example
desflow examples get local --api low-level
cd local/low-level

# 3. Run it
python local_example.py

desflow examples lists every example. Examples that need Kafka, a database or an object store start it with odctl, and each example page shows how.

Next Steps

  • Learn: teaches discrete-event simulation and desflow from the start, through a tutorial that builds one shop model. Follow the tutorial in order, and read the Simulation Concepts pages beside it for the theory behind each step.
  • User Guide: describes each part of desflow, what it does and all its options. Read a page when you need that part.
  • How-To: does one task per page, step by step, from modelling to connectors and analysis. It also holds complete examples to download and run.