STDPipe is a set of Python routines for astrometry, photometry and transient detection related tasks, intended for quick and easy implementation of custom pipelines, as well as for interactive data analysis. It is implemented as a library of routines covering most common tasks and operates on standard Python objects, including NumPy arrays for images and Astropy (ascl:1304.002) tables for catalogs and object lists. The pipeline does not re-implement code already implemented in other Python packages; instead, it transparently wraps external codes, such as SExtractor (ascl:1010.064), SCAMP (ascl:1010.063), PSFEx (ascl:1301.001), HOTPANTS (ascl:1504.004), and Astrometry.Net (ascl:1208.001), that do not have their own Python interfaces. STDPipe operates on temporary files, keeping nothing after the run unless something is explicitly requested.