Reducing the Size of Python Docker Containers | Real Python Podcast #298

How can you easily reduce the size of a Python Docker container? What are the exceptions you should catch in your code? Christopher Trudeau is back on the show this week with another batch of PyCoder's Weekly articles and projects. 👉 Links from the show: https://realpython.com/podcasts/rpp/298/ We cover a tutorial by Khuyen Tran at CodeCut about shrinking the size of a Python Docker container. The piece explores SlimToolKit, which analyzes a container at runtime, identifies what files are used, and then builds a minimal image with only those dependencies. We dig into a recent piece by Trey Hunner about Python exceptions. When trying to determine a strategy to handle potential errors, which exceptions should you catch and which should you leave unhandled? We also share other articles and projects from the Python community, including recent releases, two PEPs that have been deferred to 3.16, a critical vulnerability in an open-source ASGI framework, resolving a lazy import manually, a project to anonymize sensitive PII data, and a tool for loading Django settings from a TOML file. This episode is sponsored by AURI by Endor Labs. Topics: - 00:00:00 -- Introduction - 00:02:32 -- Django 6.1 Alpha 1 Released - 00:03:07 -- Nuitka Python Compiler Release 4.1 - 00:04:00 -- PEP 813: The Pretty Print Protocol (Deferred to 3.16) - 00:04:28 -- PEP 830: Add Timestamps to Exceptions and Tracebacks - 00:04:50 -- Millions of AI agents imperiled by critical vulnerability in open source package - 00:07:27 -- What Types of Exceptions Should You Catch? - 00:13:28 -- Sponsor: AURI from Endor Labs - 00:14:18 -- PyCon US 2026 Packaging Summit Recap - 00:18:39 -- Slim Down Python Docker Containers - 00:24:17 -- Video Course Spotlight - 00:25:45 -- Resolve a Lazy Import Manually - 00:28:04 -- presidio: Detect, Redact, & Anonymize Sensitive Data (PII) - 00:32:37 -- dj-toml-settings: Load Django settings from a TOML file - 00:37:14 -- Thanks and goodbye 👉 Links from the show: https:/