Pylearn2 is a machine learning research library. This does not just mean that it is a collection of machine learning algorithms that share a common API; it means that it has been designed for flexibility and extensibility in order to facilitate research projects that involve new or unusual use cases. In this paper we give a brief history of the library, an overview of its basic philosophy, a summary of the librarys architecture, and a description of how the Pylearn2 community functions socially.