uv/docs/guides/tools.md

Using tools

Many Python packages provide command-line interfaces which are useful as standalone tools. uv has specialized support for easily invoking and installing tools.

Using uvx

The uvx command is an alias for uv tool run, which can be used to invoke a tool without installing it.

For example, to run ruff:

$ uvx ruff

Note this is exactly equivalent to:

$ uv tool run ruff

Arguments can be passed after the tool name:

$ uvx pycowsay hello from uv

  -------------
< hello from uv >
  -------------
   \   ^__^
    \  (oo)\_______
       (__)\       )\/\
           ||----w |
           ||     ||

Commands with different package names

In uvx ruff, the ruff package is installed to provide the ruff command. However, sometimes the package name differs from the command name.

The --from option can be used to invoke a command from a specific package, e.g. http which is provided by httpie:

$ uvx --from httpie http

Requesting specific versions

To run a tool at a specific version, use command@<version>:

$ uvx ruff@0.3.0 check

The --from option can also be used to specify package versions, as above:

$ uvx --from 'ruff==0.3.0' ruff check

Or, to constrain to a range of versions:

$ uvx --from 'ruff>0.2.0,<0.3.0' ruff check

Note the @ syntax cannot be used for anything other than an exact version.

Requesting different sources

The --from option can also be used to install from alternative sources.

To pull from git:

$ uvx --from git+https://github.com/httpie/cli httpie

Commands with plugins

Additional dependencies can be included, e.g., to include mkdocs-material when running mkdocs:

$ uvx --with mkdocs-material mkdocs --help

Installing tools

If a tool is used often, it can be useful to install it to a persistent environment instead of invoking uvx repeatedly.

To install ruff:

$ uv tool install ruff

When a tool is installed, its executables are placed in a bin directory in the PATH which allows the tool to be run without uv. If it's not on the PATH, a warning will be displayed and uv tool update-shell can be used to add it to the PATH.

After installing ruff, it should be available:

$ ruff --version

Unlike uv pip install, installing a tool does not make its modules available in the current environment. For example, the following command will fail:

$ python -c "import ruff"

This isolation is important for reducing interactions and conflicts between dependencies of tools, scripts, and projects.

Unlike uvx, uv tool install operates on a package and will install all executables provided by the tool.

For example, the following will install the http, https, and httpie executables:

$ uv tool install httpie

Additionally, package versions can be included without --from:

$ uv tool install 'httpie>0.1.0'

And, similarly, for package sources:

$ uv tool install git+https://github.com/httpie/cli

As with uvx, installations can include additional packages:

$ uv tool install mkdocs --with mkdocs-material

Next steps

See the tools concept documentation for more details on how tools are managed.