What changed: Flash is now part of the Runpod SDK

Flash, the Python SDK for running code on Runpod from decorated functions, is now part of the runpod Python package. There’s now one SDK, one package to install, and one CLI. This page shows where each part of Flash lives now.

Your existing Flash code keeps working. The runpod-flash package is still available, and from runpod_flash import Endpoint continues to work unchanged. You don’t need to change anything today. New features land only in the runpod package.

Summary

One package. Install runpod instead of runpod-flash. The app SDK, the endpoint client, the Serverless worker SDK, and the API wrapper all ship together.
One CLI. Flash commands now run as rp flash COMMAND. Account and Pod commands, such as rp login, live at the root of the same CLI.
One login. rp login saves credentials to ~/.runpod/config.toml, which the whole SDK reads. RUNPOD_API_KEY is the only environment variable for authentication.
An app-based API. Instead of decorating functions with @Endpoint, you create a runpod.App and attach resources to it with @app.queue, @app.api, or the new @app.task.
A separate runtime. The code that runs on workers now lives in its own package, runpod-sdk-runtime, so it can be released independently of the SDK. See Runtime.

Install and authenticate

Before (Flash)	Now (Runpod SDK)
`pip install runpod-flash`	`pip install runpod`
`uv tool install runpod-flash`	`uv add runpod`
`flash login`	`rp login`
Python 3.10 to 3.13	Python 3.10 or higher

CLI commands

Before (Flash)	Now (Runpod SDK)
`flash login`	`rp login`
`flash init PROJECT_NAME`	`rp flash init PROJECT_NAME`
`flash dev`	`rp flash dev main.py`
`flash deploy`	`rp flash deploy`
`flash app list`	`rp flash app list`
`flash env list`	`rp flash env list --app APP_NAME`
`flash undeploy ENDPOINT_NAME`	`rp flash undeploy --app APP_NAME`
`flash build`	To be confirmed
`flash update`	Update the package with `pip install --upgrade runpod`.

The rp CLI is also available as runpod, so runpod flash deploy works too. See the CLI reference for details.

Imports and code

Before (Flash)	Now (Runpod SDK)
`from runpod_flash import Endpoint`	`import runpod`, then `app = runpod.App("APP_NAME")`
`@Endpoint(name=..., gpu=...)` on a function (queue-based)	`@app.queue(gpu=...)`
`api = Endpoint(...)` with `@api.get` and `@api.post` routes (load-balanced)	`@app.api(...)` on a class, with `@runpod.get`, `@runpod.post`, and `@runpod.init` on its methods
No equivalent	`@app.task(...)`: one ephemeral Pod per call
`await my_function(x)`	`my_function.remote(x)` or `await my_function.remote.aio(x)`
`asyncio.gather(...)` to fire off work	`my_function.spawn(x)` returns a `Job` without waiting
No equivalent	`my_function.local(x)` runs in your local process
`if __name__ == "__main__": asyncio.run(main())`	`@runpod.local_entrypoint` on `main`, run with `rp flash dev main.py`
`GpuType.NVIDIA_...` and `GpuGroup.ANY`	`gpu="H100"` and other GPU strings
`NetworkVolume(name=..., size=..., datacenter=...)` with `volume=vol`	`runpod.NetworkVolume(...)` with `mounts={"/runpod-volume": vol}`
No equivalent	`runpod.GlobalVolume(...)` for storage that isn’t tied to a datacenter
`env={"HF_TOKEN": "..."}`	`env={"HF_TOKEN": runpod.Secret("SECRET_NAME")}` to read from a Runpod secret
`Endpoint(id="ENDPOINT_ID")` to call an existing endpoint	`runpod.Endpoint("ENDPOINT_ID")` (unchanged)
`Endpoint(image="IMAGE")` to deploy a custom image	`image="IMAGE"` on a resource decorator

Here’s the same queue-based function written both ways. With Flash:

import asyncio
from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuType

@Endpoint(name="hello-gpu", gpu=GpuType.NVIDIA_GEFORCE_RTX_4090, dependencies=["torch"])
async def hello():
    import torch
    return {"gpu": torch.cuda.get_device_name(0)}

print(asyncio.run(hello()))

With the Runpod SDK:

import runpod

app = runpod.App("hello-gpu")

@app.queue(gpu="RTX 4090", dependencies=["torch"])
def hello():
    import torch
    return {"gpu": torch.cuda.get_device_name(0)}

@runpod.local_entrypoint
def main():
    print(hello.remote())

Run the new version with rp flash dev main.py.

What stays the same

runpod.Endpoint("ENDPOINT_ID") and its run, run_sync, status, and output methods work exactly as before.
runpod.serverless.start and the rest of the Serverless worker SDK are unchanged.
API wrapper functions such as runpod.create_pod and runpod.get_pods still work.
Endpoints you already deployed with Flash keep running. Nothing is redeployed or deleted.

Before you move existing Flash projects

You don’t have to move existing projects to the unified SDK. If you choose to, test each project in a dev session first, because a few Flash patterns behave differently in the new app API:

Projects split across multiple files.
Classes used as remote resources.
Path and query parameters on HTTP routes.
Resources that reference an existing template or endpoint by ID.

Flash repository deprecation timeline

The standalone runpod/flash repository is deprecated and will be archived. Archiving makes the repository read-only. It doesn’t remove the runpod-flash package from PyPI, and it doesn’t affect endpoints you’ve already deployed.

Date	What happens
DATE_TBD	Flash is part of the `runpod` package. The runpod/flash repository shows a deprecation notice. The `runpod-flash` package is frozen: it keeps working but gets no new features.
DATE_TBD	The runpod/flash repository is archived and becomes read-only.

The Flash pages in these docs stay online for reference, with a notice pointing to the Runpod SDK docs.

Get started

Runpod SDK

Flash

Serverless

Pods

Storage

Public Endpoints

Instant Clusters

Accounts and billing

Organizations (Beta)

Integrations

Hub

Reference

What changed: Flash is now part of the Runpod SDK

Summary

Install and authenticate

CLI commands

Imports and code

What stays the same

Before you move existing Flash projects

Flash repository deprecation timeline

Next steps

​Summary

​Install and authenticate

​CLI commands

​Imports and code

​What stays the same

​Before you move existing Flash projects

​Flash repository deprecation timeline

​Next steps

Summary

Install and authenticate

CLI commands

Imports and code

What stays the same

Before you move existing Flash projects

Flash repository deprecation timeline

Next steps