The Ultimate Guide to Building Cross-Platform Python Libraries with Native Extensions
A comprehensive, production-ready guide for building professional Python libraries with native extensions. This end-to-end tutorial covers 21 essential sections including project design principles, modern toolchain selection (Hatchling, Maturin, PyO3, scikit-build-core), repository structure using src-layout, pyproject.toml configuration, and cross-platform native builds with C/C++, Rust, Cython, and Zig. Learn advanced topics like CI/CD automation with GitHub Actions, cibuildwheel for wheel building, Trusted Publishing (OIDC) for PyPI, comprehensive testing strategies with Pytest and Hypothesis, documentation with MkDocs Material, performance profiling, and ABI compatibility. Perfect for backend developers, data scientists, and systems engineers who need to integrate high-performance compiled code with Python's ease of use. Includes copy-paste FFI recipes, quality gates, versioning strategies, and battle-tested best practices for maintaining production libraries.