Serializers

Serializers convert Node, Edge, and adjacency dictionaries to bytes for storage. Choose the serializer based on portability and payload requirements. Serializer extras are independent of backend extras. Multiple extras can be installed together, such as gestaltdb[leveldb,msgpack] or gestaltdb[lmdb,protobuf]; no combination-specific extra is required.

Pickle Serializer

PickleSerializer is convenient for Python-only workflows.

from gestaltdb.serializers import PickleSerializer

serializer = PickleSerializer()
payload = {"id": "node-1", "properties": {"score": 1}}
assert serializer.deserialize(serializer.serialize(payload)) == payload

JSON Serializer

JSONSerializer is readable and portable for JSON-compatible values.

from gestaltdb.serializers import JSONSerializer

serializer = JSONSerializer()
data = serializer.serialize({"name": "Alice", "active": True})
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

MessagePack Serializer

MessagePackSerializer is compact and supports bytes values.

from gestaltdb.serializers import MessagePackSerializer

serializer = MessagePackSerializer()
payload = {"edge_ids": [b"e1", b"e2"]}
assert serializer.deserialize(serializer.serialize(payload)) == payload

Install the optional dependency first:

python -m pip install "gestaltdb[msgpack]"

Protobuf Serializer

ProtobufSerializer uses google.protobuf.Struct. It tags bytes and ints so they round-trip cleanly through Struct’s JSON-like model.

from gestaltdb.serializers import ProtobufSerializer

serializer = ProtobufSerializer()
payload = {"count": 3, "raw": b"abc"}
assert serializer.deserialize(serializer.serialize(payload)) == payload

Install the optional dependency first:

python -m pip install "gestaltdb[protobuf]"

Using a Serializer With GraphDB

Install both independently selected components first:

python -m pip install "gestaltdb[lmdb,msgpack]"

from gestaltdb.graphdb import GraphDB
from gestaltdb.kvstores import LMDBStore
from gestaltdb.serializers import MessagePackSerializer

graph_db = GraphDB(LMDBStore(path="msgpack_lmdb"), MessagePackSerializer())