Hey there! Great question—let me break this down clearly for you.

First off, you’re right that node-rdkafka relies on node-gyp for building, and node-gyp does require Python during the build/installation phase. This is the step when you run something like npm install node-rdkafka—the module needs to compile its underlying C/C++ bindings (for librdkafka) into a binary that Node.js can understand, and Python is a required tool for node-gyp to handle this compilation process.

But here’s the key point you’re asking about: once node-rdkafka is successfully built and installed, Python is completely unnecessary during your application’s runtime.

Why? Because node-gyp’s job is done once it generates the compiled .node binary file. When your Node.js app runs, it only loads this pre-built binary module—there’s no need to invoke Python or run any build steps again. Think of it like assembling furniture: you need tools (Python here) to put the pieces together, but once it’s built, you don’t need the tools to use the furniture itself.

To sum it up clearly:

• Build/installation phase: Python is required
• Application runtime: Python is not needed at all

备注：内容来源于stack exchange，提问作者Helping hand