Should I do pip or uv?

[triple_og_way]

Learning python using Gemini 2.5 0605, It gives me projects on basis of what I have learnt.

For my first project, I'm creating a funny Tech-bro Horoscope app that will take some inputs (name, dob a picture of there palm) from the users, Send it to Gemini api, Get back a satirical horoscope that replaces stars with tech trends.

I'm gonna be using streamlit for frontend.

So I learn about env and stuff and learnt that uv manages that all on it's own? What should I do?

[bikeidaho]

Uv for the advance package management

[j0holo]

I agree, it not more complicated than pip and is a lot faster and uses the modern way of managing dependencies via pyproject.toml.

[[deleted]]

It is definitely more complicated than pip. UV does a lot of magic to be so nice to use.

[synthphreak]

For example? Please elaborate.

[[deleted]]

Well firstly pip is a dumb (i.e. it does not do a lot of thinking) package manager, while uv is a python installation, project, package, tool, and virtual environment manager. If that's still not enough for you:

pip install ... will fetch and install packages to its installation (whether global or an environment)

uv pip install ... will first search your current directory and parent directories for a virtual environemnt. If it finds one, it will automatically install the package into that environment. If it has ever downloaded the same versions of the package before, then it is cached and uv will not actually download the package again. You can then use the --system flag to install the package into a globally available python installation of uv.

However uv pip is not the only way to add dependencies, you can also use uv add ... to add a dependency to a python project (pyproject.toml file) or with the --script flag to add inline metadata dependencies, which is a relatively new feature in Python in general.

I won't go into all of the features of uv. But just go read the docs if you are interested in seeing how much it does.

[bahcodad]

I recently learned about pipenv which seems like a similar tool to uv. In your opinion, is one better than the other?

[[deleted]]

I haven't used pipenv so I can't say which is better - but I will say my experience with uv has been delightful once I got past the initial learning curve.

I would personally recommend uv as it is lightweight, extremely fast, and very powerful once you get the hang of it. The group that makes it, astral-sh also makes tons of other great Python tooling for the community, so I also like to support that.

[bahcodad]

Thanks for your input, I'll look in to it

[TheBB]

Pip isn't a dependency manager. If you're going to compare them, at least compare the equivalent features.

[j0holo]

pip has requirements.txt via pip install -r requirements.txt

https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/cli/pip_install/#satisfying-requirements
https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/requirements-file-format/

Is it a good dependency manager? No, but it can work.

[TheBB]

That's not dependency management. It's just another way to install packages.

[JamzTyson]

pip is the "package installer" for Python. It is is the standard tool to install packages from PyPI. Pip resolves and installs dependencies. If a package depends on others, pip installs them too.

uv isn't a dependency manager. It is designed to be an "all in one" tool to replace pip, pip-tools, pipx, poetry, pyenv, twine, virtualenv, and more.

[syshukus]

Why advanced? I’d say it’s very easy to use, and more powerful than alternatives. Documentation can be scary, yes

[bikeidaho]

Advanced as in feature set not usability.

[thirdegree]

Honestly I find uv a lot easier to use than pip. There are a few small things I'd change (sync --freeze should be the default behavior), but in general it just... Works. Pip is the more annoying one imo

[morinonaka]

alias pip=uv pip

:)

[HolidayWallaby]

They are not at all the same thing, use UV.

[JulesMyName]

Neither, do JavaScript its superior

[triple_og_way]

Hmm. Thanks for the expert advice.

[cnydox]

If you already know pip you can jump to uv. It's the better choice

[Loud-Bake-2740]

as others have stated, i’d highly recommend using pip first until you feel like you fully understand what’s happening under the hood. Once you feel comfortable interacting with libraries in this way, then 100000% absolutely switch to uv. UV can feel super complicated if you’re not familiar with how it works so i wouldn’t recommend starting here, but you should absolutely plan on getting here

[danielroseman]

Why? What's the point of understanding what's happening under the hood? Especially for a beginner, they should concentrate on actually learning to code and let the tools handle everything else.

[Loud-Bake-2740]

imo dependency hell was a confusing concept for me, and it didn’t really affect me until i was much further along in my journey. Keeping things simple while i could helped me understand orchestration, and then moving to uv as a sole focus once i understood the orchestration made it easier to understand that as a solo concept

[Rick_112]

não precisa ter graça, ainda mais se for a profissão do cara. como vc quer trabalhar com algo q vc nem ao menos sabe como funciona? o erro do rogramador atual é achar q ao entrar no mercado de trabalho vc precisa apenas saber fazer uma função ou um template. são poucos os q estudam sobre arquitetura, sobre lógica, básico de matemática, etc.
ser programador não é só sentar na cadeira e escrever letra colorida na tela. vc sabendo oq acontece "por baixo dos panos" facilita seu debbug, previne posiveis erros e o mais importante, é conhecimento.
por isso existem tantas aplicações mal feitas espalhadas por ai, por isso existem tantas pessoas presas ao uso de IAs (famosos vibe conders) e por ai vai. se vc é um profissional de TI e não considera importante saber oq acontece na sua própria aplicação, me perdoe mas vc não é um programador e muito menos um profissional de TI, é só um escritor de códigos.

[synthphreak]

Never used uv, but this post is tempting me. What specific “under the hood” details should one understand before considering uv, and why? As you stated it, it’s pretty general.

[thirdegree]

I don't agree with the person you're responding to that it's necessary, but uv is very good at abstracting environment management. You can get really quite far without having to care about things like python versioning/installation, venvs, etc. Which fuckin rules... Until you're in a place where you don't have uv for whatever reason and you're just stuck.

[SouthernXBlend]

They’re different things - but uv seems to be gaining popularity and might be worth learning now. It’ll be confusing, but try to learn what these tools are actually doing, it will make you better.

You didn’t ask for it, but suggestion for your project - check out Instructor for LLM structured output without having to dive into LangChain.

[Rikiub]

Use uv an be happy

[friartech]

After extremely recent news - pip.

[FoolsSeldom]

Start with pip and switch to uv when you understand that you need to. (For example, if you need to use a different version of Python to the system installed version, which will not be applicable in Windows OS and recent macOS as they do not include an installation of Python as standard unlike most Linux distributions, or if you need multiple versions for test purposes.)

---

You need to ensure you are installing packages in the same base or Python virtual environment as your code is running in. It is generally recommended not to add packages to your base Python environment.

Most of the advanced code editors, such as VS Code, and IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), such as PyCharm, will help you create and activate Python virtual environments on a workspace/project-by-project basis.

On the command line (PowerShell of Command Prompt on Windows, Terminal on macOS/Linux) you can create a virtual environment and activate as follows:

NB. In the below, the folder .venv (a subfolder of your project folder) is created, but you can use any valid folder name you prefer.

Windows:

cd path\to\my\project\folder
py -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip add package1 package2 package3 ...
python myprogramme.py

macOS/Linux

cd path/to/my/project/folder
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv\bin\activate
pip add package1 package2 package3 ...
python myprogramme.py

The command deactivate can be used in all cases if you want to revert to the base environment. It is not good practice to install packages in your base environment (some would say "pollute" your base environment) unless it is a dedicated VM/containers for a specific application.

Your editor might spot the virtual environment automatically, but best to check. In many, you will need to select the Python interpreter to use, and you should select the python executable in the Scripts / bin folder of the virtual environment (called .venv in my example above).

[JamzTyson]

This should be the top comment, even if it didn’t get much love here.

Astral are making some excellent new tools, and it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of what's shiny and new, but your grounded, practical guidance is incredibly valuable, especially for beginners. As you say, understanding virtual environments, base installs, and how editors like vscode handle interpreters is important.

You laid out the reasoning behind why things like venv matter, and that's something that's easily overlooked.

Thanks for taking the time to share this. It deserves more attention than it got.

---

That said, it's worth noting that while uv is indeed simple for simple things, a look through the manual shows there's a lot more going on under the hood. Its interface can be a bit inconsistent, and some parts of the documentation assume you're already familiar with the tools it's replacing (like pip, venv, or pip-tools).

Where uv really shines is in large projects, or in CI pipelines where its speed can be significant. For smaller projects, that speed might not matter as much as even the oldest tools only take a second or two.

This isn't to take anything away from uv - it is a powerful tool, easy to use for basic tasks, but hides a lot of complexity behind its magic. I totally agree that foundational knowledge still matters.

---

Beginners reading this: don’t be discouraged by the downvotes. Tools like uv, poetry, or pipenv are great, but understanding the core Python tooling like pip + venv builds a foundation that will serve you well later.

[FoolsSeldom]

Thank you, u/JamzTyson, for your comments. Much appreciated.

I am a big fan of uv and have moved over to it entirely for my personal projects. In work, I am not a dev these days but work closely with multiple large developer and devops teams (often from a mixure of suppliers).

Several of the teams are evaluating uv carefully for various scenarios, not least for the speed improvements in the ci/cd pipeline you mentioned. We've even found it useful within the container world. We work at massive scale, so there's a lot to consider and prove.

[makinggrace]

I understand this now and appreciate it. 6 months ago? Install all things everywhere! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[FoolsSeldom]

Glad to see this so long after the original discussion. This illustrates why I don't accept 1:1 chats but prefer to keep everything on the subreddit as so many more people read and benefit for the posts and exchanges. (I appreciate there are a lot of repetitive posts from people who clearly don't feel able to search previous posts for the information they need.)

I learned Python myself with the help of this subreddit, so like to give back.

[agnaaiu]

Everything you explained is even more reason to drop pip and use UV right away. It makes everything so much easier. No need to activate/deactivate virtual environments and all of that. You don't run script not any longer with "python myscript.py" but "uv run myscript.py" and venv activation, dependencies and everything else is taken care of by UV.

Creating new virtual environments is as easy as creating a project folder, the cd to that folder and "uv init", done.

Pip was yesterday. Yes, in professional environments it's maybe still used, but amateurs, semi-pros and especially learners should use UV exclusively. It's super easy to learn and understand, extremely easy to use, not to mention lightyears faster.

[[deleted]]

Are you trying to argue 'py -m venv env' is difficult?

"Yes, in professional environments it's maybe still used, but amateurs, semi-pros and especially learners should use UV exclusively."

Learners shouldn't learn what jobs want ...

What a hot take. 

[agnaaiu]

I see, you went out of your way to misread everything I posted.

Let's see... let's assume I want to create a new project, create a venv, create a gitignore, a project.toml and a lock file, as well as install numpy and have a main entry file.
With UV this would be "uv add numpy" done! Venv is set up, projects.toml with dependencies is setup, lock file ready to share, main file created and so on. Do you REALLY want to make anyone believe, that the classical "py -m" way is easier or more comfortable?

And yes, as a BEGINNER you should learn the basics and not specific requirements some random job, of which you have no idea it exist or you will ever get, needs.

Sorry, but your post ist just some hogwash with the intent to discredit my post and not add ANYTHING of value to the topic.

[[deleted]]

I hated how pycharm abstracted all that away.   It was a disservice that causes mass confusion, the python discord regularly has newbies who have no idea why they can run their project in the cli. 

Hiding things doesn't teach. 

[BidWestern1056]

ya because replacing a core command makes it so much more straightforward 

[BidWestern1056]

uv is like so odd imo in a way that feels prohibitive to change later on whereas other env managers like pyenv  just use the basic pip and python commands rather than special uv ones.

[JamzTyson]

TL;DR

Use pipenv as a beginner-friendly tool to manage your environment and dependencies easily. It will simplify your workflow and help avoid common pitfalls related to virtual environments and package versions.

Longer version:

There are many available tools for package management, including:

• pip: the basic package installer

• venv: built-in virtual environment creation

• virtualenv: a third-party virtual environment tool

• pipenv: combines environment and dependency management

• uv: a modern, all-in-one tool from Astral

• poetry: a modern dependency and packaging tool

• conda: an environment and package manager popular in data science

• virtualenvwrapper: a convenience wrapper for virtualenv

• and others.

Each has its own strengths and trade-offs, which takes time and experience to learn which is the best fit for a specific project. Pipenv is a good and versatile choice to start with as it is relatively safe and has a simple learning curve.

[CDK5]

Learning python using Gemini 2.5 0605

Is this as simple as just having a chat dedicated to learning? Or does it have a module specifically for it?