15 KiB
Specifying dependencies
In uv, project dependencies are declared across two pyproject.toml tables: project.dependencies
and tool.uv.sources.
project.dependencies defines the standards-compliant dependency metadata, propagated when
uploading to PyPI or building a wheel.
tool.uv.sources enriches the dependency metadata with additional sources, incorporated during
development. A dependency source can be a Git repository, a URL, a local path, or an alternative
registry.
tool.uv.sources enables uv to support common patterns like editable installations and relative
paths that are not supported by the project.dependencies standard. For example:
[project]
name = "albatross"
version = "0.1.0"
dependencies = [
"bird-feeder",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
bird-feeder = { path = "./packages/bird-feeder" }
Project dependencies
The project.dependencies table represents the dependencies that are used when uploading to PyPI or
building a wheel. Individual dependencies are specified using
dependency specifiers
syntax, and the table follows the
PEP 621 standard.
project.dependencies defines the list of packages that are required for the project, along with
the version constraints that should be used when installing them. Each entry includes a dependency
name and version. An entry may include extras or environment markers for platform-specific packages.
For example:
[project]
name = "albatross"
version = "0.1.0"
dependencies = [
# Any version in this range
"tqdm >=4.66.2,<5",
# Exactly this version of torch
"torch ==2.2.2",
# Install transformers with the torch extra
"transformers[torch] >=4.39.3,<5",
# Only install this package on older python versions
# See "Environment Markers" for more information
"importlib_metadata >=7.1.0,<8; python_version < '3.10'",
"mollymawk ==0.1.0"
]
If the project only requires packages from standard package indexes, then project.dependencies is
sufficient. If the project depends on packages from Git, remote URLs, or local sources,
tool.uv.sources can be used to enrich the dependency metadata without ejecting from the
standards-compliant project.dependencies table.
!!! tip
See the [projects](./projects.md#managing-dependencies) documentation to add, remove, or update
dependencies from the `pyproject.toml` from the CLI.
Dependency sources
During development, a project may rely on a package that isn't available on PyPI. The following additional sources are supported by uv:
- Index: A package resolved from a specific package index.
- Git: A Git repository.
- URL: A remote wheel or source distribution.
- Path: A local wheel, source distribution, or project directory.
- Workspace: A member of the current workspace.
Note that if a non-uv project uses a project with sources as a Git- or path-dependency, only
project.dependencies and project.optional-dependencies are respected. Any information provided
in the source table will need to be re-specified in a format specific to the other package manager.
To instruct uv to ignore the tool.uv.sources table (e.g., to simulate resolving with the package's
published metadata), use the --no-sources flag:
$ uv lock --no-sources
The use of --no-sources will also prevent uv from discovering any
workspace members that could satisfy a given dependency.
Index
To pin a Python package to a specific index, add a named index to the pyproject.toml:
[project]
dependencies = [
"torch",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
torch = { index = "pytorch" }
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "pytorch"
url = "https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu"
explicit = true
The explicit flag is optional and indicates that the index should only be used for packages that
explicitly specify it in tool.uv.sources. If explicit is not set, other packages may be resolved
from the index, if not found elsewhere.
Git
To add a Git dependency source, prefix a Git-compatible URL to clone with git+.
For example:
$ uv add git+https://github.com/encode/httpx
Will result in a pyproject.toml with:
[project]
dependencies = [
"httpx",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
httpx = { git = "https://github.com/encode/httpx" }
A revision, tag, or branch may also be included:
$ uv add git+https://github.com/encode/httpx --tag 0.27.0
$ uv add git+https://github.com/encode/httpx --branch main
$ uv add git+https://github.com/encode/httpx --rev 326b943
Git dependencies can also be manually added or edited in the pyproject.toml with the
{ git = <url> } syntax. A target revision may be specified with one of: rev, tag, or branch.
A subdirectory may be specified if the package isn't in the repository root.
URL
To add a URL source, provide a https:// URL to either a wheel (ending in .whl) or a source
distribution (typically ending in .tar.gz or .zip; see
here for all supported formats).
For example:
$ uv add "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/5c/2d/3da5bdf4408b8b2800061c339f240c1802f2e82d55e50bd39c5a881f47f0/httpx-0.27.0.tar.gz"
Will result in a pyproject.toml with:
[project]
dependencies = [
"httpx",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
httpx = { url = "https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/5c/2d/3da5bdf4408b8b2800061c339f240c1802f2e82d55e50bd39c5a881f47f0/httpx-0.27.0.tar.gz" }
URL dependencies can also be manually added or edited in the pyproject.toml with the
{ url = <url> } syntax. A subdirectory may be specified if the source distribution isn't in the
archive root.
Path
To add a path source, provide the path of a wheel (ending in .whl), a source distribution
(typically ending in .tar.gz or .zip; see here
for all supported formats), or a directory containing a pyproject.toml.
For example:
$ uv add /example/foo-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl
Will result in a pyproject.toml with:
[project]
dependencies = [
"foo",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
foo = { path = "/example/foo-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl" }
The path may also be a relative path:
$ uv add ./foo-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl
Or, a path to a project directory:
$ uv add ~/projects/bar/
!!! important
An [editable installation](#editable-dependencies) is not used for path dependencies by
default. An editable installation may be requested for project directories:
```console
$ uv add --editable ~/projects/bar/
```
However, it is recommended to use [_workspaces_](./workspaces.md) instead of manual path
dependencies.
Workspace member
To declare a dependency on a workspace member, add the member name with { workspace = true }. All
workspace members must be explicitly stated. Workspace members are always
editable . See the workspace documentation for more
details on workspaces.
[project]
dependencies = [
"mollymawk ==0.1.0"
]
[tool.uv.sources]
mollymawk = { workspace = true }
[tool.uv.workspace]
members = [
"packages/mollymawk"
]
Platform-specific sources
You can limit a source to a given platform or Python version by providing dependency specifiers-compatible environment markers for the source.
For example, to pull httpx from GitHub, but only on macOS, use the following:
[project]
dependencies = [
"httpx",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
httpx = { git = "https://github.com/encode/httpx", tag = "0.27.2", marker = "sys_platform == 'darwin'" }
By specifying the marker on the source, uv will still include httpx on all platforms, but will
download the source from GitHub on macOS, and fall back to PyPI on all other platforms.
Multiple sources
You can specify multiple sources for a single dependency by providing a list of sources, disambiguated by PEP 508-compatible environment markers.
For example, to pull in different httpx commits on macOS vs. Linux:
[project]
dependencies = [
"httpx",
]
[tool.uv.sources]
httpx = [
{ git = "https://github.com/encode/httpx", tag = "0.27.2", marker = "sys_platform == 'darwin'" },
{ git = "https://github.com/encode/httpx", tag = "0.24.1", marker = "sys_platform == 'linux'" },
]
This strategy even extends to pulling packages from different indexes based on environment markers.
For example, to pull torch from different PyTorch indexes based on the platform:
[project]
dependencies = ["torch"]
[tool.uv.sources]
torch = [
{ index = "torch-cu118", marker = "sys_platform == 'darwin'"},
{ index = "torch-cu124", marker = "sys_platform != 'darwin'"},
]
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "torch-cu118"
url = "https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118"
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "torch-cu124"
url = "https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124"
Optional dependencies
It is common for projects that are published as libraries to make some features optional to reduce
the default dependency tree. For example, Pandas has an
excel extra and a
plot extra to avoid
installation of Excel parsers and matplotlib unless someone explicitly requires them. Extras are
requested with the package[<extra>] syntax, e.g., pandas[plot, excel].
Optional dependencies are specified in [project.optional-dependencies], a TOML table that maps
from extra name to its dependencies, following
dependency specifiers syntax.
Optional dependencies can have entries in tool.uv.sources the same as normal dependencies.
[project]
name = "pandas"
version = "1.0.0"
[project.optional-dependencies]
plot = [
"matplotlib>=3.6.3"
]
excel = [
"odfpy>=1.4.1",
"openpyxl>=3.1.0",
"python-calamine>=0.1.7",
"pyxlsb>=1.0.10",
"xlrd>=2.0.1",
"xlsxwriter>=3.0.5"
]
To add an optional dependency, use the --optional <extra> option:
$ uv add httpx --optional network
Development dependencies
Unlike optional dependencies, development dependencies are local-only and will not be included in
the project requirements when published to PyPI or other indexes. As such, development dependencies
are included under [tool.uv] instead of [project].
Development dependencies can have entries in tool.uv.sources the same as normal dependencies.
[tool.uv]
dev-dependencies = [
"pytest >=8.1.1,<9"
]
To add a development dependency, include the --dev flag:
$ uv add ruff --dev
Build dependencies
If a project is structured as Python package, it may declare
dependencies that are required to build the project, but not required to run it. These dependencies
are specified in the [build-system] table under build-system.requires, following
PEP 518.
For example, if a project uses setuptools as its build backend, it should declare setuptools as
a build dependency:
[project]
name = "pandas"
version = "0.1.0"
[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools>=42"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
By default, uv will respect tool.uv.sources when resolving build dependencies. For example, to use
a local version of setuptools for building, add the source to tool.uv.sources:
[project]
name = "pandas"
version = "0.1.0"
[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools>=42"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
[tool.uv.sources]
setuptools = { path = "./packages/setuptools" }
When publishing a package, we recommend running uv build --no-sources to ensure that the package
builds correctly when tool.uv.sources is disabled, as is the case when using other build tools,
like pypa/build.
Editable dependencies
A regular installation of a directory with a Python package first builds a wheel and then installs that wheel into your virtual environment, copying all source files. When the package source files are edited, the virtual environment will contain outdated versions.
Editable installations solve this problem by adding a link to the project within the virtual
environment (a .pth file), which instructs the interpreter to include the source files directly.
There are some limitations to editables (mainly: the build backend needs to support them, and native modules aren't recompiled before import), but they are useful for development, as the virtual environment will always use the latest changes to the package.
uv uses editable installation for workspace packages by default.
To add an editable dependency, use the --editable flag:
$ uv add --editable ./path/foo
Or, to opt-out of using an editable dependency in a workspace:
$ uv add --no-editable ./path/foo
Dependency specifiers (PEP 508)
uv uses dependency specifiers, previously known as PEP 508. A dependency specifier is composed of, in order:
- The dependency name
- The extras you want (optional)
- The version specifier
- An environment marker (optional)
The version specifiers are comma separated and added together, e.g., foo >=1.2.3,<2,!=1.4.0 is
interpreted as "a version of foo that's at least 1.2.3, but less than 2, and not 1.4.0".
Specifiers are padded with trailing zeros if required, so foo ==2 matches foo 2.0.0, too.
A star can be used for the last digit with equals, e.g. foo ==2.1.* will accept any release from
the 2.1 series. Similarly, ~= matches where the last digit is equal or higher, e.g., foo ~=1.2
is equal to foo >=1.2,<2, and foo ~=1.2.3 is equal to foo >=1.2.3,<1.3.
Extras are comma-separated in square bracket between name and version, e.g.,
pandas[excel,plot] ==2.2. Whitespace between extra names is ignored.
Some dependencies are only required in specific environments, e.g., a specific Python version or
operating system. For example to install the importlib-metadata backport for the
importlib.metadata module, use importlib-metadata >=7.1.0,<8; python_version < '3.10'. To
install colorama on Windows (but omit it on other platforms), use
colorama >=0.4.6,<5; platform_system == "Windows".
Markers are combined with and, or, and parentheses, e.g.,
aiohttp >=3.7.4,<4; (sys_platform != 'win32' or implementation_name != 'pypy') and python_version >= '3.10'.
Note that versions within markers must be quoted, while versions outside of markers must not be
quoted.