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Installing [uv] and Managing Your Python Projects

uv is a seriously fast and efficient tool for Python package management, written in Rust. It’s a great alternative to pip and virtualenv, speeding up your workflow significantly. Let’s get you set up and show you how to use it.

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Installing [uv]: Three Ways

You’ve got a few simple options for getting uv onto your system:

1. Recommended (with pipx): This is the best way as it installs uv in its own isolated environment, preventing conflicts with other packages.

   pip install pipx # If you don't have pipx already
   pipx ensurepath    # Make sure pipx's executables are on your PATH
   pipx install uv

2. Directly with pip: A straightforward way if you prefer not to use pipx.

   pip install uv

3. Using brew (macOS/Linux): If you’re on macOS or Linux and use Homebrew, it’s just one command.

   brew install uv

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Setting Up and Activating a Virtual Environment

uv makes managing virtual environments a breeze, keeping your project dependencies neatly separated.

Creating the Environment

To create a new virtual environment in your current directory (it’ll be named .venv by default):

uv venv

or you can assign specific version of Python

uv venv -p 3.10

Activating the Environment

Before you do anything else in your project, you need to activate this environment:

• macOS/Linux:

  source .venv/bin/activate

• Windows (Command Prompt):

  .venv\Scripts\activate.bat

• Windows (PowerShell):

  .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

You’ll know it’s active because your terminal prompt will usually show (.venv) at the beginning.

Exit can use following:

deactivate

Delete the .venv directory:

rm -rf .venv

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Installing Packages with [uv pip install]

Once your virtual environment is active, installing packages is very similar to pip, but with uv pip:

• Installing from requirements.txt:

  uv pip install -r requirements.txt

• Installing individual packages:

  uv pip install requests beautifulsoup4

Important Note on Quoting with [uv pip]

When installing packages that include extras (optional features) or direct URLs, you must use double quotes to ensure the shell passes the entire string correctly to uv. This is a common point of confusion for pip users moving to uv.

• With extras:

  uv pip install "celery[redis]"

• From a Git repository:

  uv pip install "git+https://github.com/example/my-lib.git#egg=my-lib"

• Local editable installs:

  uv pip install "-e ."

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Running Your Project with [uv]’s Python

After your environment is active and dependencies are installed, you simply use the python command, which now refers to the Python interpreter within your activated .venv.

If you have a script named app.py:

python app.py

Key point: You don’t use uv python (that command doesn’t exist). Once the environment is activated, your shell automatically uses the python from your .venv.

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What Makes [uv] Special?

uv isn’t just another package manager; it brings some powerful features to the table:

• Blazing Speed: This is uv‘s headline feature. Written in Rust, it’s significantly faster than pip for dependency resolution and installation, especially in large, complex projects.

• Robust Dependency Resolution: uv is designed to handle complex dependency graphs and potential conflicts much more effectively than pip, leading to more reliable builds.

• No Global Lock (for venvs): Unlike some other tools, uv doesn’t enforce a global lock file across all your virtual environments. Each uv venv operates independently, which simplifies development when you’re juggling multiple projects with different dependency versions. You can manage project-specific lock files (e.g., uv lock) if desired, but it’s not imposed globally.

• Integrated Installer and Resolver: uv combines the roles of pip (installer) and pip-tools or Poetry (resolver) into a single, cohesive tool.

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[uv] beats naive [pip] & [conda] =w=/