What is Pyrasite used for?

Pyrasite is a free, GPL-licensed Python tool that lets developers inject code into, and inspect, a running Python process for debugging and monitoring. It is a good fit for debugging a stuck production Python process and live inspection of running Python services.

Is Pyrasite open source?

Yes. Pyrasite is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at lmacken/pyrasite and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Pyrasite is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What are some alternatives to Pyrasite?

Similar open-source tools in the Developer Tools category include Laravel Telescope, Visual Studio Code and kitty. SaaS products in the same category include CookieEditor, PyCharm and 1DevTool.

Is Pyrasite actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Pyrasite was on 7 April 2025. The project has 2.9k stars on GitHub.

Pyrasite: open-source developer tools

About Pyrasite

Pyrasite is a developer tool for injecting code into running Python processes. It is aimed at Python developers who need to debug, inspect or modify the behavior of a live process without stopping it, such as diagnosing a stuck or misbehaving long-running service.

It builds on GDB to attach to a running Python interpreter, letting a developer execute arbitrary code inside that process from the outside for debugging and monitoring purposes, based on its listed topics of Python, GDB, debugging and monitoring. The project's own homepage content was not available at the time of this summary, so further specifics should be confirmed from the GitHub repository.

Pyrasite is written in Python and released under the GPL-3.0 license. Because it can execute arbitrary code inside another running process, it should be used only against processes you own or are authorized to debug.

Key features

Inject code into a running Python process
GDB-based process attachment
Live debugging without restarting the process
Process inspection and monitoring

Good fit for

→Debugging a stuck production Python process
→Live inspection of running Python services

Built with: Python
Tags: python; debugging; monitoring; gdb; developer-tools; process-injection

Pyrasite: questions and answers

What is Pyrasite used for?: Pyrasite is a free, GPL-licensed Python tool that lets developers inject code into, and inspect, a running Python process for debugging and monitoring. It is a good fit for debugging a stuck production Python process and live inspection of running Python services.
Is Pyrasite open source?: Yes. Pyrasite is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at lmacken/pyrasite and is written mainly in Python.
Is Pyrasite free?: Yes. Pyrasite is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What are some alternatives to Pyrasite?: Similar open-source tools in the Developer Tools category include Laravel Telescope, Visual Studio Code and kitty. SaaS products in the same category include CookieEditor, PyCharm and 1DevTool.
Is Pyrasite actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Pyrasite was on 7 April 2025. The project has 2.9k stars on GitHub.