Skip to content

skaha → canfar

In summer 2025, the CANFAR Python client was moved from shinybrar/skaha to opencadc/canfar to be officially supported by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC). As part of this move, the Python package was renamed from skaha to canfar to better reflect a unified naming scheme across the CANFAR Science Platform.

This guide helps you migrate from the skaha Python package to canfar.

Summary of changes

  • Package name: skaha → canfar.
  • Breaking Changes
  • skaha.session → canfar.sessions.
  • headless session kind parameter is no longer required.
  • session.info() query now returns Completed instead of Succeeded.
  • Configuration path: ~/.skaha/config.yaml → ~/.canfar/config.yaml.
  • Logger name and location: logger canfar; logs under ~/.canfar/client.log.
  • Environment variables: prefix change SKAHA_… → CANFAR_….
  • CLI entry point: canfar (single entry point).
  • User-Agent header: python-canfar/{version}.
  • Protocol contracts: server URLs and custom headers remain unchanged (see notes below).

Code Examples

  • Python client session

    Before
    from skaha.session import AsyncSession, Session
    After
    from canfar.sessions import AsyncSession, Session

  • Client composition

    Before
    from skaha.client import SkahaClient

client = SkahaClient(...)
    After
    from canfar.client import HTTPClient

client = HTTPClient(...)

Environment variables

Before
`SKAHA_TIMEOUT`, `SKAHA_CONCURRENCY`, `SKAHA_TOKEN`, `SKAHA_URL`, `SKAHA_LOGLEVEL
After
`CANFAR_TIMEOUT`, `CANFAR_CONCURRENCY`, `CANFAR_TOKEN`, `CANFAR_URL`, `CANFAR_LOGLEVEL`

Configuration

  • The default config file moves from ~/.skaha/config.yaml to ~/.canfar/config.yaml.
  • The structure of the YAML file remains the same.
  • Repo: https://github.com/opencadc/canfar
  • Docs: https://opencadc.github.io/canfar/
  • Changelog: https://opencadc.github.io/canfar/changelog/

Notes on protocol stability

  • Server base path segments under /skaha are server-side contracts and remain unchanged (for example, https://ws-uv.canfar.net/skaha).
  • Historical header names remain unchanged (for example, X-Skaha-Authentication-Type, X-Skaha-Registry-Auth).