asyncio: Add guest mode for running asyncio inside external event loops
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- Dominant language
- Python
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Description
Feature request
Add guest mode to asyncio, enabling it to run cooperatively inside a host event loop such as Tkinter, Qt, GTK, or any other framework that owns the main thread.
Motivation
GUI toolkits (Tk, Qt, GTK, pygame, ...) each have their own event loop that must run on the main thread. Today there is no standard way to use asyncio coroutines inside a GUI application without:
- Polling hacks (periodic
root.after()calls) - Replacing the event loop entirely (fragile, framework-specific)
- Running asyncio in a separate thread and manually marshalling results
Trio solved this problem with trio.lowlevel.start_guest_run() and the approach has proven robust across many GUI frameworks (see trio-guest).
Proposed API
import asyncio
task = asyncio.start_guest_run(
async_fn, *args,
run_sync_soon_threadsafe=host.schedule_callback,
done_callback=host.on_done,
)
The implementation decomposes BaseEventLoop._run_once() into three new public methods — poll_events(), process_events(), and process_ready() — then uses a dual-thread architecture where the host thread processes callbacks and a daemon I/O thread polls for events.
Prior art and discussion
- Trio guest mode
- trio-guest — multi-framework reference implementation
- asyncio-guest — proof-of-concept for asyncio (this proposal is derived from it)
- discuss.python.org: Connecting asyncio and tkinter event loops
A reference implementation with tests (12 tests passing, full asyncio test suite regression-free) is ready to submit as a PR.
Linked PRs
- gh-145343
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with BaseEventLoop._run_once(), the proposed public API, and the reference implementation's 12 tests. Review linked PR gh-145343 and the cited guest-mode prior art; done would mean the proposed guest mode works cooperatively with host event loops and passes its tests without regressions in the asyncio suite.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100