uv Package Manager: Getting Started

Python Environments

I know I’m pretty late to the game on this one, but after playing around with uv for my latest project, I truly don’t think I will ever be looking back. It’s hard to explain, but it just feels crisp and blazing fast. Over the last year I constantly saw all the hype around uv, but after years of using pip and conda, I just didn’t really want to take the time to learn a new package manager.

After finally trying it, I found that it was not only incredibly intuitive, but it integrates directly into existing workflows with minimal change. In this article, I will explain some of the key features of uv, and show how you can start using it today to supercharge your Python development.

Quick Introduction

uv is a next-generation Python package and project manager designed to unify the fragmented Python tooling ecosystem. Released in 2024, it’s pitched as “a single tool to replace pip, pip-tools, pipx, poetry, pyenv, twine, virtualenv, and more.”

For years, Python developers have juggled multiple tools for tasks like dependency management, environment creation, packaging, and publishing. Astral, the same team behind the popular Python linter ruff, created uv as part of their mission to modernize Python’s developer experience. Written in Rust, uv…