The public C API

The public C-API comprises functions defined in all C header files in the py directory. Most of the important core runtime C APIS are exposed in runtime.h and obj.h.

The following is an example of public API functions from obj.h:

mp_obj_t mp_obj_new_tuple(size_t n, const mp_obj_t *items);
void mp_obj_tuple_get(mp_obj_t self_in, size_t *len, mp_obj_t **items);
void mp_obj_tuple_del(mp_obj_t self_in);
mp_int_t mp_obj_tuple_hash(mp_obj_t self_in);

At its core, any functions and macros in header files make up the public API and can be used to access very low-level details of MicroPython. Static functions in header files are fine too. Static inline means the function will be inlined in the code when used. They are “static” so the linker doesn’t complain about duplicate definition in in-lining fails.

Header files in the ports directory are only exposed to the functionality in specific to a given port.