diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cd8f266..343497c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,17 @@ It compiles on recent Linux/FreeBSD/MacOS and supports x86\_64 and AArch64 CPUs.
 
 This code repository is being actively maintained and contains optimizations beyong the original RemixDB implementation.
 
-# Optimization 1: Minimizing REMIX (Re-)Building Cost
+# News
+
+* An experimental Python API is available in `xdb.py`. See the end of `xdb.py` for examples.
+
+* RemixDB now provides `xdb_merge` for atomic read-modify-write operations.
+
+* Two optimizations have been added to boost compaction and point query performance (see below).
+
+# Optimizations
+
+## Optimization 1: Minimizing REMIX (Re-)Building Cost
 
 This implementation employs an optimization to minimize the REMIX building cost.
 This optimization improves the throughput by 2x (0.96MOPS vs. 0.50MOPS) in a random-write experiment, compared to the implementation described in the REMIX paper.
@@ -35,7 +45,7 @@ You should use `remixdb_open` unless it's absolutely necessary to save a little
 `remixdb_open_compact` opens a remixdb with the optimization turned off. Each newly created sstable will not contain a CKB.
 A store created by one of these functions can be safely opened by the other function.
 
-# Optimization 2: Improving Point Query with Hash Tags
+## Optimization 2: Improving Point Query with Hash Tags
 
 A point query in the original RemixDB performs binary search in a segment, which takes about five key comparisons and can cost multiple I/Os.
 The current implementation provides a new option, named `tags` (the last argument of `remixdb_open`).
diff --git a/xdb.py b/xdb.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8b0b200
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xdb.py
@@ -0,0 +1,200 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python3
+
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2016--2021  Wu, Xingbo <wuxb45@gmail.com>
+#
+# All rights reserved. No warranty, explicit or implicit, provided.
+#
+
+import msgpack
+from ctypes import *   # CDLL and c_xxx types
+
+# libxdb {{{
+# Change this path when necessary
+libxdb = CDLL("./libremixdb.so")
+
+# open
+# dir, cachesz, mtsz, tags -> xdbptr
+libxdb.remixdb_open.argtypes = [c_char_p, c_uint, c_uint, c_bool]
+libxdb.remixdb_open.restype = c_void_p
+
+# close (no return value)
+libxdb.remixdb_close.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+
+# ref
+libxdb.remixdb_ref.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_ref.restype = c_void_p
+
+# unref
+libxdb.remixdb_unref.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_unref.restype = c_void_p
+
+# put
+# xdbptr, keyptr, keylen, vptr, vlen -> bool
+libxdb.remixdb_put.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_uint, c_char_p, c_uint]
+libxdb.remixdb_put.restype = c_bool
+
+# get
+# xdbptr, keyptr, keylen, vptr_out, vlen_out -> bool
+libxdb.remixdb_get.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_uint, c_char_p, c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_get.restype = c_bool
+
+# probe
+libxdb.remixdb_probe.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_uint]
+libxdb.remixdb_probe.restype = c_bool
+
+# del
+libxdb.remixdb_del.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_uint]
+libxdb.remixdb_del.restype = c_bool
+
+# sync
+libxdb.remixdb_sync.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+
+# iter_create
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_create.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_create.restype = c_void_p
+
+# iter_seek
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_seek.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_uint]
+
+# iter_valid
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_valid.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_valid.restype = c_bool
+
+# iter_skip1
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_skip1.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+
+# iter_skip
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_skip.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_uint]
+
+# iter_peek
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_peek.argtypes = [c_void_p, c_char_p, c_void_p, c_char_p, c_void_p]
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_peek.restype = c_bool
+
+# iter_destroy
+libxdb.remixdb_iter_destroy.argtypes = [c_void_p]
+# }}} libxdb
+
+# class {{{
+class Xdb:
+    def __init__(self, dirname, cachesz=256, mtsz=256, tags=True):
+        self.xdbptr = libxdb.remixdb_open(dirname.encode('ascii'), c_uint(cachesz), c_uint(mtsz), c_bool(tags))
+
+    # user must call explicitly
+    def close(self):
+        libxdb.remixdb_close(self.xdbptr)
+
+    def ref(self):
+        return XdbRef(self.xdbptr)
+
+class XdbRef:
+    # use xdb.ref()
+    def __init__(self, xdbptr):
+        self.refptr = libxdb.remixdb_ref(xdbptr)
+
+    # user must call explicitly
+    def unref(self):
+        libxdb.remixdb_unref(self.refptr)
+
+    def iter(self):
+        return XdbIter(self.refptr)
+
+    # key: python string; value: any (hierarchical) python object
+    def put(self, key, value):
+        binkey = key.encode()
+        binvalue = msgpack.packb(value)
+        print(key, msgpack.unpackb(binvalue), len(binvalue))
+
+        return libxdb.remixdb_put(self.refptr, binkey, c_uint(len(binkey)), binvalue, c_uint(len(binvalue)))
+
+
+    # return the value as a python object
+    def get(self, key):
+        binkey = key.encode()
+        vbuf = create_string_buffer(1024) # TODO: must be large enough
+        vlen = c_uint()
+        ret = libxdb.remixdb_get(self.refptr, binkey, len(binkey), vbuf, byref(vlen))
+        if ret:
+            #vbuf[vlen.value] = b'\x00'
+            return msgpack.unpackb(vbuf.value)
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    def delete(self, key):
+        binkey = key.encode()
+        return libxdb.remixdb_del(self.refptr, binkey, c_uint(len(binkey)))
+
+    def probe(self, key):
+        binkey = key.encode()
+        return libxdb.remixdb_probe(self.refptr, binkey, c_uint(len(binkey)))
+
+    def sync(self):
+        return libxdb.remixdb_sync(self.refptr)
+
+class XdbIter:
+    def __init__(self, refptr):
+        self.iptr = libxdb.remixdb_iter_create(refptr)
+
+    # user must call explicitly
+    def destroy(self):
+        libxdb.remixdb_iter_destroy(self.iptr)
+
+    def seek(self, key):
+        if key is None:
+            libxdb.remixdb_iter_seek(self.iptr, None, c_uint(0))
+        else:
+            binkey = key.encode()
+            libxdb.remixdb_iter_seek(self.iptr, binkey, c_uint(len(binkey)))
+
+    def valid(self):
+        return libxdb.remixdb_iter_valid(self.iptr)
+
+    def skip1(self):
+        libxdb.remixdb_iter_skip1(self.iptr)
+
+    def skip(self, nr):
+        libxdb.remixdb_iter_skip(self.iptr, c_uint(nr))
+
+    # return (key, value) pair or None
+    def peek(self):
+        kbuf = create_string_buffer(1024) # TODO: must be large enough
+        vbuf = create_string_buffer(1024) # TODO: must be large enough
+        klen = c_uint()
+        vlen = c_uint()
+        if libxdb.remixdb_iter_peek(self.iptr, kbuf, byref(klen), vbuf, byref(vlen)):
+            #kbuf[klen.value] = b'\x00'
+            #vbuf[vlen.value] = b'\x00'
+            return (kbuf.value.decode(), klen.value, msgpack.unpackb(vbuf.value), vlen.value)
+        else:
+            return None
+
+# }}} class
+
+# examples
+xdb1 = Xdb("/tmp/pyxdb") # change this path when necessary
+ref1 = xdb1.ref()  # take a ref for kv operations
+
+ref1.put("Hello", "pyxdb")
+ref1.put("key1", "value1")
+ref1.put("key2", "value2")
+ref1.put("key3", {"xxx":"valuex", "yyy":"valuey"})
+ref1.delete("key2")
+
+rget = ref1.get("Hello")
+print(rget)
+
+# don't use ref when iterating
+iter1 = ref1.iter()
+iter1.seek(None)
+while iter1.valid():
+    r = iter1.peek()
+    print(r)
+    iter1.skip1()
+
+iter1.destroy() # must destroy all iters before unref
+
+ref1.sync()
+ref1.unref() # must unref all refs before close()
+xdb1.close()
+
+# vim:fdm=marker