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Clément Dethoor
Clément Dethoor

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Introduction to UV

UV – Ultra Fast Python Package Manager

🧾 Overview

UV is an extremely fast Python project and package manager written in Rust.

  • Manages dependencies, virtual environments, and Python versions.
  • Can replace pip, pipx, pip-tools, or poetry.
  • Blazing fast due to being built in Rust.

⚙️ Installation

On macOS (via Homebrew) 

brew install uv
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Using pip 

pip install uv
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Enable shell auto-completion (e.g., for zsh) 

eval "$(uv generate-shell-completion zsh)"
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Example: uv c[TAB] will autocomplete the command.

🚀 Setting Up a Project

Initialize a project 

uv init --app my_app_name        # Default type (application)
uv init --package my_package_name
uv init --lib my_lib_name
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Run a script and create a virtual environment 

uv run hello.py
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This will create a virtual environment automatically.

Add or remove dependencies 

uv add pandas
uv remove pandas
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Sync environment and workspace 

uv sync
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Upgrade a specific package 

uv lock --upgrade pandas
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Show dependency tree 

uv tree
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📦 Dependency Management (Workspaces)

UV supports workspaces, allowing you to manage multiple virtual environments in a single directory.

  • Running uv init inside an existing UV project creates a sub-project with its own virtual environment: 
uv init new_project
uv add pandas
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  • To create a fully isolated project (not in the workspace): 
uv init another_project --no-workspace
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🛠️ UV Tools

Run a tool (e.g., ruff) 

uv tool run ruff check
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Check where tools are installed 

uv tool dir
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Install a tool 

uv tool install ruff
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🐍 Python Version Management

List available Python versions 

uv python list
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Install a specific version 

uv python install 3.12.0
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Set Python version for a virtual environment 

uv venv --python 3.12.0
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