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Python versions

A Python version is composed of a Python interpreter (i.e. the python executable), the standard library, and other supporting files.

Managed and system Python installations

Since it is common for a system to have an existing Python installation, uv supports discovering Python versions. However, uv also supports installing Python versions itself. To distinguish between these two types of Python installations, uv refers to Python versions it installs as managed Python installations and all other Python installations as system Python installations.

!!! note

uv does not distinguish between Python versions installed by the operating system vs those
installed and managed by other tools. For example, if a Python installation is managed with
`pyenv`, it would still be considered a _system_ Python version in uv.

Requesting a version

A specific Python version can be requested with the --python flag in most uv commands. For example, when creating a virtual environment:

$ uv venv --python 3.11.6

uv will ensure that Python 3.11.6 is available — downloading and installing it if necessary — then create the virtual environment with it.

The following Python version request formats are supported:

  • <version> e.g. 3, 3.12, 3.12.3
  • <version-specifier> e.g. >=3.12,<3.13
  • <implementation> e.g. cpython or cp
  • <implementation>@<version> e.g. cpython@3.12
  • <implementation><version> e.g. cpython3.12 or cp312
  • <implementation><version-specifier> e.g. cpython>=3.12,<3.13
  • <implementation>-<version>-<os>-<arch>-<libc> e.g. cpython-3.12.3-macos-aarch64-none

Additionally, a specific system Python interpreter can be requested with:

  • <executable-path> e.g. /opt/homebrew/bin/python3
  • <executable-name> e.g. mypython3
  • <install-dir> e.g. /some/environment/

By default, uv will automatically download Python versions if they cannot be found on the system. This behavior can be disabled with the python-downloads option.

Installing a Python version

uv bundles a list of downloadable CPython and PyPy distributions for macOS, Linux, and Windows.

!!! tip

By default, Python versions are automatically downloaded as needed without using
`uv python install`.

To install a Python version at a specific version:

$ uv python install 3.12.3

To install the latest patch version:

$ uv python install 3.12

To install a version that satisfies constraints:

$ uv python install '>=3.8,<3.10'

To install multiple versions:

$ uv python install 3.9 3.10 3.11

To install a specific implementation:

$ uv python install pypy

All of the Python version request formats are supported except those that are used for requesting local interpreters such as a file path.

Project Python versions

By default uv python install will verify that a managed Python version is installed or install the latest version.

However, a project may define a .python-version file specifying the default Python version to be used. If present, uv will install the Python version listed in the file.

Alternatively, a project that requires multiple Python versions may also define a .python-versions file. If present, uv will install all of the Python versions listed in the file. This file takes precedence over the .python-version file.

uv will also respect Python requirements defined in a pyproject.toml file during project command invocations.

Viewing available Python versions

To list installed and available Python versions:

$ uv python list

By default, downloads for other platforms and old patch versions are hidden.

To view all versions:

$ uv python list --all-versions

To view Python versions for other platforms:

$ uv python list --all-platforms

To exclude downloads and only show installed Python versions:

$ uv python list --only-installed

Finding a Python executable

To find a Python executable, use the uv python find command:

$ uv python find

By default, this will display the path to the first available Python executable. See the discovery rules for details about how executables are discovered.

This interface also supports many request formats, e.g., to find a Python executable that has a version of 3.11 or newer:

$ uv python find >=3.11

By default, uv python find will include Python versions from virtual environments. If a .venv directory is found in the working directory or any of the parent directories or the VIRTUAL_ENV environment variable is set, it will take precedence over any Python executables on the PATH.

To ignore virtual environments, use the --system flag:

$ uv python find --system

Discovery of Python versions

When searching for a Python version, the following locations are checked:

  • Managed Python installations in the UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR.
  • A Python interpreter on the PATH as python, python3, or python3.x on macOS and Linux, or python.exe on Windows.
  • On Windows, the Python interpreter returned by py --list-paths that matches the requested version.

In some cases, uv allows using a Python version from a virtual environment. In this case, the virtual environment's interpreter will be checked for compatibility with the request before searching for an installation as described above. See the pip-compatible virtual environment discovery documentation for details.

When performing discovery, non-executable files will be ignored. Each discovered executable is queried for metadata to ensure it meets the requested Python version. If the query fails, the executable will be skipped. If the executable satisfies the request, it is used without inspecting additional executables.

When searching for a managed Python version, uv will prefer newer versions first. When searching for a system Python version, uv will use the first compatible version — not the newest version.

If a Python version cannot be found on the system, uv will check for a compatible managed Python version download.

Disabling automatic Python downloads

By default, uv will automatically download Python versions when needed.

The python-downloads option can be used to disable this behavior. By default, it is set to automatic; set to manual to only allow Python downloads during uv python install.

!!! tip

The `python-downloads` setting can be set in a
[persistent configuration file](../configuration/files.md) to change the default behavior, or
the `--no-python-downloads` flag can be passed to any uv command.

Adjusting Python version preferences

By default, uv will attempt to use Python versions found on the system and only download managed interpreters when necessary.

The python-preference option can be used to adjust this behavior. By default, it is set to managed which prefers managed Python installations over system Python installations. However, system Python installations are still preferred over downloading a managed Python version.

The following alternative options are available:

  • only-managed: Only use managed Python installations; never use system Python installations
  • system: Prefer system Python installations over managed Python installations
  • only-system: Only use system Python installations; never use managed Python installations

These options allow disabling uv's managed Python versions entirely or always using them and ignoring any existing system installations.

!!! note

Automatic Python version downloads can be [disabled](#disabling-automatic-python-downloads)
without changing the preference.

Python implementation support

uv supports the CPython, PyPy, and GraalPy Python implementations. If a Python implementation is not supported, uv will fail to discover its interpreter.

The implementations may be requested with either the long or short name:

  • CPython: cpython, cp
  • PyPy: pypy, pp
  • GraalPy: graalpy, gp

Implementation name requests are not case sensitive.

See the Python version request documentation for more details on the supported formats.

Managed Python distributions

uv supports downloading and installing CPython and PyPy distributions.

CPython distributions

As Python does not publish official distributable CPython binaries, uv instead uses pre-built third-party distributions from the python-build-standalone project. python-build-standalone is partially maintained by the uv maintainers and is used in many other Python projects, like Rye and bazelbuild/rules_python.

The uv Python distributions are self-contained, highly-portable, and performant. While Python can be built from source, as in tools like pyenv, doing so requires preinstalled system dependencies, and creating optimized, performant builds (e.g., with PGO and LTO enabled) is very slow.

These distributions have some behavior quirks, generally as a consequence of portability; and, at present, uv does not support installing them on musl-based Linux distributions, like Alpine Linux. See the python-build-standalone quirks documentation for details.

PyPy distributions

PyPy distributions are provided by the PyPy project.