Free the threads!

No more GIL! This project is a proof-of-concept of how removing the GIL can speed up certain Python programs, especially those that use multithreading.

More details about GIL-free python can be found in the python org blog post.

🎯 Quick Start Guide

0. Prerequisites: uv, Python 3.14+

• Python 3.14+
• uv

brew install uv
uv venv --python 3.14t
uv sync

1. TUI Demo

python -X gil=rich_demo.py

2. Web Demo

python -X gil=flask_demo.py

🎭 What to Expect

With GIL:

• Multi-threaded ≈ Sequential time (maybe worse!)
• Speedup: 1.0x or less
• Disappointing but educational 😐

Without GIL (-X gil=0):

• Multi-threaded >> Sequential
• Speedup: 4-6x (near-linear!)
• Mind-blowing! 🤯

THANKS

Special shoutout to the many contributors to the GIL-free python effort including: Sam Gross, Matt Page, Neil Schemenauer, Thomas Wouters, Donghee Na, Kirill Podoprigora, Ken Jin, Itamar Oren, Brett Simmers, Dino Viehland, Nathan Goldbaum, Ralf Gommers, Lysandros Nikolaou, Kumar Aditya, Edgar Margffoy, and several others.