Getting Started with uv: Fast Python Package Management and Project Initialization

If you are used to pip install , manually creating virtual environments, and maintaining requirements.txt , you might find uv a pleasant surprise. uv is a Rust‑written Python package manager from the Astral team that can replace pip, venv, and pip‑tools while providing faster dependency resolution and a modern project workflow.

Initialize a project with uv init

Running the command creates a project skeleton in one step:

uv init

Create a .venv virtual environment;

Generate a pyproject.toml configuration file;

(Optional) Add initial dependencies;

Produce a uv.lock lock file;

Set .venv as the default environment for the current directory, eliminating the need to manually activate it.

The whole process replaces several manual steps with a single command, providing a cleaner starting point for Python projects.

Install dependencies with uv add (instead of pip install )

Traditional usage:

pip install requests

With uv:

uv add requests

Benefits include:

Automatic entry of the dependency into pyproject.toml under [project.dependencies] ;

Installation into the .venv environment;

Automatic update of the uv.lock file;

No need to maintain a separate requirements.txt file.

For development dependencies, use:

uv add --dev pytest ruff

To remove a dependency:

uv remove requests

Run project scripts or tools with uv venv + uvx

uv places the virtual environment in .venv , but you do not need to source activate it each time. Simply execute:

uv venv

This ensures .venv exists and is automatically configured as the default Python environment for the current shell. Afterwards, any script runs without worrying about path issues.

uv also provides the uvx command, similar to pipx or Node.js's npx , allowing you to run CLI tools installed in the project directly. For example:

uvx ruff check .
uvx ruff format .

Using uvx eliminates the need for global tool installations and extra wrappers like pre‑commit .

Example project structure

my-project/
├── .venv/               ← virtual environment
├── pyproject.toml       ← project configuration (dependencies, metadata, etc.)
├── uv.lock              ← locked dependency versions
├── main.py              ← entry script

Personal experience

Adopting uv as the default tool for new projects brings several advantages:

No more manual requirements.txt files;

No conflict between poetry.lock and pyproject.toml ;

Dependency installation is 3–5× faster for large projects;

Combined with ruff as a lint‑and‑format solution, eliminating the need for black or flake8 .

In CI pipelines, replacing pip install -r requirements.txt with uv and its lock file yields more consistent environments.

Conclusion

If you are dissatisfied with slow pip install speeds, want to avoid maintaining multiple requirements files, and seek a modern, faster, and more automated Python project setup, give uv a try. Start your next project with uv init and enjoy the streamlined workflow.

Project homepage: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/