Registry / data / followthemoney

followthemoney

library4.9.2pypypi✓ verified 85d ago

A Python library for modeling, validating, and exporting structured anti-corruption data. It provides a schema (the 'Follow the Money' data model) with entities, properties, and relations, along with tools for data import/export (CSV, Excel, JSON, RDF), entity deduplication, and graph analysis. Current version 4.8.1, supports Python >=3.10, released under MIT license. Active development.

data serialization database

pip install followthemoney

github ↗package ↗docs ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · FOLLOWTHEMONEY

followthemoney

datapythonv4.9.2

Install

16.5s avg

Import

2410ms

Disk

173MB

Pass rate

2/ 10

Env Coverage2 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v3.7.12 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

glibc

py 3.10

✕ build_error

py 3.11

✕ build_error

py 3.12

✕ build_error

py 3.13

✕ build_error

py 3.9

✓ —

✓ 16.5s

173MB installed

● package 173MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

Model

✓ from followthemoney import Model

✗ from followthemoney.model import Model

Model is exposed at package level; the model submodule is internal.

Entity

✓ from followthemoney import Entity

✗ from followthemoney.entity import Entity

Entity is exposed at package level.

schema

✓ from followthemoney import schema

✗ import followthemoney.schema

schema is a module, import as shown.

Create a Person entity, add properties, validate, and export to dict.

from followthemoney import Model # Load the default data model model = Model() # Create an entity of type 'Person' entity = model.make_entity('Person') entity.make_id('some-unique-id') entity.add('name', 'John Doe') entity.add('birthDate', '1980-01-01') # Validate the entity (raises on invalid) entity.validate() # Export to dict print(entity.to_dict())

followthemoney --version

Debug

Known issues

breakingIn version 4.0, the proxy API was removed. Use model.make_entity instead of direct Entity construction.

fix

Replace `Entity(model, 'Person')` with `model.make_entity('Person')`.

affects: <4.0

breakingSchema changes between minor versions may rename or remove entity types and properties. Always check migration docs.

fix

Run `followthemoney -m` to see current schema, and update code accordingly.

affects: >=3.0

gotchaThe `Entity` object is mutable and shares model state; copying entities with `copy()` does a shallow copy of properties. Use deepcopy for full independence.

fix

Use `copy.deepcopy(entity)` instead of `entity.copy()`.

affects: all

deprecatedThe `followthemoney.cli` namespace and command-line scripts (like `ftm`) are deprecated; use the `followthemoney` module directly.

fix

Use `python -m followthemoney` instead of `ftm`.

affects: >=4.5

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'followthemoney.model'

Importing from submodule incorrectly.

fix

Use `from followthemoney import Model` instead of `from followthemoney.model import Model`.

followthemoney.exceptions.InvalidData: Invalid entity type: 'Organisation'

Entity type name typo or wrong case. Schema uses 'Organization' (with 'z').

fix

Use 'Organization' (US spelling) instead of 'Organisation' (UK spelling).

AttributeError: 'Model' object has no attribute 'Entity'

Trying to access Entity class on Model instance incorrectly.

fix

Use `model.make_entity('Person')` or `from followthemoney import Entity`.

ValueError: Entity ID is required before adding properties

Calling `add()` on Entity before calling `make_id()`.

fix

Always call `entity.make_id('...')` before adding properties.

Upgrade

Version history

4.9.2latest on PyPI · released Jun 12, 2026

Audit

Dependencies

pantomimerequiredType mappings and string normalization

banalrequiredUtility functions (BANAL is a dependency of followthemoney)

pycountryrequiredCountry and language codes

python-dateutilrequiredDate parsing

networkxoptionalGraph algorithms for deduplication and clustering

nomenklaturaoptionalEntity deduplication and name matching

Agent activity

8 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/opensanctions/followthemoney ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/followthemoney/ ↗

docshttps://followthemoney.tech/ ↗