# Robin Sparkless
**PySpark-style DataFrames in Rust—no JVM.** A DataFrame library that mirrors PySpark’s API and semantics while using [Polars](https://www.pola.rs/) as the execution engine.
[](https://crates.io/crates/robin-sparkless)
[](https://pypi.org/project/robin-sparkless/)
[](https://docs.rs/robin-sparkless)
[](https://robin-sparkless.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
[](LICENSE)
---
## Why Robin Sparkless?
- **Familiar API** — `SparkSession`, `DataFrame`, `Column`, and PySpark-like functions so you can reuse patterns without the JVM.
- **Polars under the hood** — Fast, native Rust execution with Polars for IO, expressions, and aggregations.
- **Rust-first, Python optional** — Use it as a Rust library or build the Python extension via PyO3 for a drop-in style API.
- **Sparkless backend target** — Designed to power [Sparkless](https://github.com/eddiethedean/sparkless) (the Python PySpark replacement) so Sparkless can run on this engine via PyO3.
---
## Features
| **Core** | `SparkSession`, `DataFrame`, `Column`; `filter`, `select`, `with_column`, `order_by`, `group_by`, joins |
| **IO** | CSV, Parquet, JSON via `SparkSession::read_*` |
| **Expressions** | `col()`, `lit()`, `when`/`then`/`otherwise`, `coalesce`, cast, type/conditional helpers |
| **Aggregates** | `count`, `sum`, `avg`, `min`, `max`, and more; multi-column groupBy |
| **Window** | `row_number`, `rank`, `dense_rank`, `lag`, `lead`, `first_value`, `last_value`, and others with `.over()` |
| **Arrays & maps** | `array_*`, `explode`, `create_map`, `map_keys`, `map_values`, and related functions |
| **Strings & JSON** | String functions (`upper`, `lower`, `substring`, `regexp_*`, etc.), `get_json_object`, `from_json`, `to_json` |
| **Datetime & math** | Date/time extractors and arithmetic, `year`/`month`/`day`, math (`sin`, `cos`, `sqrt`, `pow`, …) |
| **Optional SQL** | `spark.sql("SELECT ...")` with temp views (`createOrReplaceTempView`, `table`) — enable with `--features sql` |
| **Optional Delta** | `read_delta`, `read_delta_with_version`, `write_delta` — enable with `--features delta` |
Known differences from PySpark are documented in [docs/PYSPARK_DIFFERENCES.md](docs/PYSPARK_DIFFERENCES.md). Out-of-scope items (XML, UDF, streaming, RDD) are documented in [docs/DEFERRED_SCOPE.md](docs/DEFERRED_SCOPE.md). Parity status and roadmap are in [docs/PARITY_STATUS.md](docs/PARITY_STATUS.md) and [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md).
---
## Installation
### Rust
Add to your `Cargo.toml`:
```toml
[dependencies]
robin-sparkless = "0.4.0"
```
Optional features:
```toml
robin-sparkless = { version = "0.4.0", features = ["sql"] } # spark.sql(), temp views
robin-sparkless = { version = "0.4.0", features = ["delta"] } # Delta Lake read/write
```
### Python (PyO3)
Install from [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/robin-sparkless/) (Python 3.8+):
```bash
pip install robin-sparkless
```
Or build from source with [maturin](https://www.maturin.rs/):
```bash
pip install maturin
maturin develop --features pyo3
# With optional SQL and/or Delta:
maturin develop --features "pyo3,sql"
maturin develop --features "pyo3,delta"
maturin develop --features "pyo3,sql,delta"
```
Then use the `robin_sparkless` module; see [docs/PYTHON_API.md](docs/PYTHON_API.md).
---
## Quick start
### Rust
```rust
use robin_sparkless::{col, lit_i64, SparkSession};
fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
let spark = SparkSession::builder().app_name("demo").get_or_create();
// Create a DataFrame from rows (id, age, name)
let df = spark.create_dataframe(
vec![
(1, 25, "Alice".to_string()),
(2, 30, "Bob".to_string()),
(3, 35, "Charlie".to_string()),
],
vec!["id", "age", "name"],
)?;
// Filter and show
let adults = df.filter(col("age").gt(lit_i64(26)))?;
adults.show(Some(10))?;
Ok(())
}
```
You can also wrap an existing Polars `DataFrame` with `DataFrame::from_polars(polars_df)`. See [docs/QUICKSTART.md](docs/QUICKSTART.md) for joins, window functions, and more.
### Python
```python
import robin_sparkless as rs
spark = rs.SparkSession.builder().app_name("demo").get_or_create()
df = spark.create_dataframe([(1, 25, "Alice"), (2, 30, "Bob")], ["id", "age", "name"])
filtered = df.filter(rs.col("age").gt(rs.lit(26)))
print(filtered.collect()) # [{"id": 2, "age": 30, "name": "Bob"}]
```
---
## Development
**Prerequisites:** Rust (see [rust-toolchain.toml](rust-toolchain.toml)). For Python tests: Python 3.8+, `maturin`, `pytest`. For full check (lint + type-check): `ruff`, `mypy` (installed by Makefile when needed).
| `cargo build` | Build (Rust only) |
| `cargo build --features pyo3` | Build with Python extension |
| `cargo test` | Run Rust tests |
| `make test` | Run Rust + Python tests (creates venv, `maturin develop --features pyo3,sql,delta`, `pytest`) |
| `make check` | Rust only: format, clippy, audit, deny, Rust tests |
| `make check-full` | Full CI: check + Python lint (ruff format, ruff check, mypy) + Python tests |
| `make test-parity-phase-a` … `make test-parity-phase-g` | Run parity fixtures for a specific phase (see [PARITY_STATUS](docs/PARITY_STATUS.md)) |
| `make lint-python` | Python only: ruff format --check, ruff check, mypy |
| `cargo bench` | Benchmarks (robin-sparkless vs Polars) |
| `cargo doc --open` | Build and open API docs |
| `make gap-analysis` | PySpark gap analysis (clones Spark repo, extracts APIs, produces [docs/GAP_ANALYSIS_PYSPARK_REPO.md](docs/GAP_ANALYSIS_PYSPARK_REPO.md)) |
| `make gap-analysis-quick` | Quick gap analysis (uses existing pyspark_api_from_repo.json) |
CI runs format, clippy, audit, deny, Rust tests, Python lint (ruff, mypy), and Python tests on push/PR (see [.github/workflows/ci.yml](.github/workflows/ci.yml)).
---
## Documentation
- [**Full documentation (Read the Docs)**](https://robin-sparkless.readthedocs.io/) — Quickstart, Python API, reference, and Sparkless integration (MkDocs)
- [**PyPI**](https://pypi.org/project/robin-sparkless/) — Python package (wheels for Linux, macOS, Windows)
- [**API reference (docs.rs)**](https://docs.rs/robin-sparkless) — Crate API
- [**QUICKSTART**](docs/QUICKSTART.md) — Build, usage, optional features, benchmarks
- [**ROADMAP**](docs/ROADMAP.md) — Development roadmap and Sparkless integration
- [**PYSPARK_DIFFERENCES**](docs/PYSPARK_DIFFERENCES.md) — Known divergences from PySpark
- [**GAP_ANALYSIS_PYSPARK_REPO**](docs/GAP_ANALYSIS_PYSPARK_REPO.md) — Gap analysis vs Apache PySpark (from source)
- [**RELEASING**](docs/RELEASING.md) — Releasing and publishing to crates.io
See also [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for version history.
---
## License
MIT