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Environment variables

uv defines and respects the following environment variables:

UV_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES

Equivalent to the --break-system-packages command-line argument. If set to true, uv will allow the installation of packages that conflict with system-installed packages. WARNING: UV_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES=true is intended for use in continuous integration (CI) or containerized environments and should be used with caution, as modifying the system Python can lead to unexpected behavior.

UV_BUILD_CONSTRAINT

Equivalent to the --build-constraint command-line argument. If set, uv will use this file as constraints for any source distribution builds. Uses space-separated list of files.

UV_CACHE_DIR

Equivalent to the --cache-dir command-line argument. If set, uv will use this directory for caching instead of the default cache directory.

UV_COMPILE_BYTECODE

Equivalent to the --compile-bytecode command-line argument. If set, uv will compile Python source files to bytecode after installation.

UV_CONCURRENT_BUILDS

Sets the maximum number of source distributions that uv will build concurrently at any given time.

UV_CONCURRENT_DOWNLOADS

Sets the maximum number of in-flight concurrent downloads that uv will perform at any given time.

UV_CONCURRENT_INSTALLS

Controls the number of threads used when installing and unzipping packages.

UV_CONFIG_FILE

Equivalent to the --config-file command-line argument. Expects a path to a local uv.toml file to use as the configuration file.

UV_CONSTRAINT

Equivalent to the --constraint command-line argument. If set, uv will use this file as the constraints file. Uses space-separated list of files.

UV_CUSTOM_COMPILE_COMMAND

Equivalent to the --custom-compile-command command-line argument. Used to override uv in the output header of the requirements.txt files generated by uv pip compile. Intended for use-cases in which uv pip compile is called from within a wrapper script, to include the name of the wrapper script in the output file.

UV_DEFAULT_INDEX

Equivalent to the --default-index command-line argument. If set, uv will use this URL as the default index when searching for packages.

UV_ENV_FILE

.env files from which to load environment variables when executing uv run commands.

UV_EXCLUDE_NEWER

Equivalent to the --exclude-newer command-line argument. If set, uv will exclude distributions published after the specified date.

UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL

Equivalent to the --extra-index-url command-line argument. If set, uv will use this space-separated list of URLs as additional indexes when searching for packages. (Deprecated: use UV_INDEX instead.)

Equivalent to the --find-links command-line argument. If set, uv will use this comma-separated list of additional locations to search for packages.

UV_FROZEN

Equivalent to the --frozen command-line argument. If set, uv will run without updating the uv.lock file.

UV_GITHUB_TOKEN

Equivalent to the --token argument for self update. A GitHub token for authentication.

UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT

Timeout (in seconds) for HTTP requests. (default: 30 s)

UV_INDEX

Equivalent to the --index command-line argument. If set, uv will use this space-separated list of URLs as additional indexes when searching for packages.

UV_INDEX_STRATEGY

Equivalent to the --index-strategy command-line argument. For example, if set to unsafe-any-match, uv will consider versions of a given package available across all index URLs, rather than limiting its search to the first index URL that contains the package.

UV_INDEX_URL

Equivalent to the --index-url command-line argument. If set, uv will use this URL as the default index when searching for packages. (Deprecated: use UV_DEFAULT_INDEX instead.)

UV_INDEX_{name}_PASSWORD

Generates the environment variable key for the HTTP Basic authentication password.

UV_INDEX_{name}_USERNAME

Generates the environment variable key for the HTTP Basic authentication username.

UV_INSECURE_HOST

Equivalent to the --allow-insecure-host argument.

UV_INSTALLER_GHE_BASE_URL

The URL from which to download uv using the standalone installer and self update feature, in lieu of the default GitHub Enterprise URL.

UV_INSTALLER_GITHUB_BASE_URL

The URL from which to download uv using the standalone installer and self update feature, in lieu of the default GitHub URL.

UV_INSTALL_DIR

The directory in which to install uv using the standalone installer and self update feature. Defaults to ~/.local/bin.

UV_KEYRING_PROVIDER

Equivalent to the --keyring-provider command-line argument. If set, uv will use this value as the keyring provider.

Equivalent to the --link-mode command-line argument. If set, uv will use this as a link mode.

UV_LOCKED

Equivalent to the --locked command-line argument. If set, uv will assert that the uv.lock remains unchanged.

UV_NATIVE_TLS

Equivalent to the --native-tls command-line argument. If set to true, uv will use the system's trust store instead of the bundled webpki-roots crate.

UV_NO_BUILD_ISOLATION

Equivalent to the --no-build-isolation command-line argument. If set, uv will skip isolation when building source distributions.

UV_NO_CACHE

Equivalent to the --no-cache command-line argument. If set, uv will not use the cache for any operations.

UV_NO_CONFIG

Equivalent to the --no-config command-line argument. If set, uv will not read any configuration files from the current directory, parent directories, or user configuration directories.

UV_NO_ENV_FILE

Ignore .env files when executing uv run commands.

UV_NO_PROGRESS

Disables all progress output. For example, spinners and progress bars.

UV_NO_SYNC

Equivalent to the --no-sync command-line argument. If set, uv will skip updating the environment.

UV_NO_WRAP

Use to disable line wrapping for diagnostics.

UV_OVERRIDE

Equivalent to the --override command-line argument. If set, uv will use this file as the overrides file. Uses space-separated list of files.

UV_PRERELEASE

Equivalent to the --prerelease command-line argument. For example, if set to allow, uv will allow pre-release versions for all dependencies.

UV_PREVIEW

Equivalent to the --preview argument. Enables preview mode.

UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT

Specifies the path to the directory to use for a project virtual environment. See the project documentation for more details.

UV_PUBLISH_CHECK_URL

Don't upload a file if it already exists on the index. The value is the URL of the index.

UV_PUBLISH_PASSWORD

Equivalent to the --password command-line argument in uv publish. If set, uv will use this password for publishing.

UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN

Equivalent to the --token command-line argument in uv publish. If set, uv will use this token (with the username __token__) for publishing.

UV_PUBLISH_URL

Equivalent to the --publish-url command-line argument. The URL of the upload endpoint of the index to use with uv publish.

UV_PUBLISH_USERNAME

Equivalent to the --username command-line argument in uv publish. If set, uv will use this username for publishing.

UV_PYPY_INSTALL_MIRROR

Managed PyPy installations are downloaded from python.org. This variable can be set to a mirror URL to use a different source for PyPy installations. The provided URL will replace https://downloads.python.org/pypy in, e.g., https://downloads.python.org/pypy/pypy3.8-v7.3.7-osx64.tar.bz2. Distributions can be read from a local directory by using the file:// URL scheme.

UV_PYTHON

Equivalent to the --python command-line argument. If set to a path, uv will use this Python interpreter for all operations.

UV_PYTHON_BIN_DIR

Specifies the directory to place links to installed, managed Python executables.

UV_PYTHON_DOWNLOADS

Equivalent to the python-downloads setting and, when disabled, the --no-python-downloads option. Whether uv should allow Python downloads.

UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR

Specifies the directory for storing managed Python installations.

UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_MIRROR

Managed Python installations are downloaded from python-build-standalone. This variable can be set to a mirror URL to use a different source for Python installations. The provided URL will replace https://github.com/indygreg/python-build-standalone/releases/download in, e.g., https://github.com/indygreg/python-build-standalone/releases/download/20240713/cpython-3.12.4%2B20240713-aarch64-apple-darwin-install_only.tar.gz. Distributions can be read from a local directory by using the file:// URL scheme.

UV_PYTHON_PREFERENCE

Equivalent to the --python-preference command-line argument. Whether uv should prefer system or managed Python versions.

UV_REQUEST_TIMEOUT

Timeout (in seconds) for HTTP requests. Equivalent to UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT.

UV_REQUIRE_HASHES

Equivalent to the --require-hashes command-line argument. If set to true, uv will require that all dependencies have a hash specified in the requirements file.

UV_RESOLUTION

Equivalent to the --resolution command-line argument. For example, if set to lowest-direct, uv will install the lowest compatible versions of all direct dependencies.

UV_STACK_SIZE

Use to control the stack size used by uv. Typically more relevant for Windows in debug mode.

UV_SYSTEM_PYTHON

Equivalent to the --system command-line argument. If set to true, uv will use the first Python interpreter found in the system PATH. WARNING: UV_SYSTEM_PYTHON=true is intended for use in continuous integration (CI) or containerized environments and should be used with caution, as modifying the system Python can lead to unexpected behavior.

UV_TOOL_BIN_DIR

Specifies the "bin" directory for installing tool executables.

UV_TOOL_DIR

Specifies the directory where uv stores managed tools.

UV_UNMANAGED_INSTALL

Used ephemeral environments like CI to install uv to a specific path while preventing the installer from modifying shell profiles or environment variables.

UV_VERIFY_HASHES

Equivalent to the --verify-hashes argument. Verifies included hashes.

Externally defined variables

uv also reads the following externally defined environment variables:

ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN

Used for trusted publishing via uv publish. Contains the oidc request token.

ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL

Used for trusted publishing via uv publish. Contains the oidc token url.

ALL_PROXY

General proxy for all network requests.

BASH_VERSION

Used to detect Bash shell usage.

CLICOLOR_FORCE

Use to control color via anstyle.

CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV

Used to determine if an active Conda environment is the base environment or not.

CONDA_PREFIX

Used to detect an activated Conda environment.

FISH_VERSION

Used to detect Fish shell usage.

FORCE_COLOR

Forces colored output regardless of terminal support.

See force-color.org.

GITHUB_ACTIONS

Used for trusted publishing via uv publish.

HOME

The standard HOME env var.

HTTPS_PROXY

Proxy for HTTPS requests.

HTTP_PROXY

Proxy for HTTP requests.

HTTP_TIMEOUT

Timeout (in seconds) for HTTP requests. Equivalent to UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT.

INSTALLER_NO_MODIFY_PATH

Avoid modifying the PATH environment variable when installing uv using the standalone installer and self update feature.

JPY_SESSION_NAME

Used to detect when running inside a Jupyter notebook.

KSH_VERSION

Used to detect Ksh shell usage.

LOCALAPPDATA

Used to look for Microsoft Store Pythons installations.

MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET

Used with --python-platform macos and related variants to set the deployment target (i.e., the minimum supported macOS version).

Defaults to 12.0, the least-recent non-EOL macOS version at time of writing.

NETRC

Use to set the .netrc file location.

NO_COLOR

Disables colored output (takes precedence over FORCE_COLOR).

See no-color.org.

NU_VERSION

Used to detect NuShell usage.

PAGER

The standard PAGER posix env var. Used by uv to configure the appropriate pager.

PATH

The standard PATH env var.

PROMPT

Used to detect the use of the Windows Command Prompt (as opposed to PowerShell).

PWD

The standard PWD posix env var.

PYC_INVALIDATION_MODE

The validation modes to use when run with --compile.

See PycInvalidationMode.

PYTHONPATH

Adds directories to Python module search path (e.g., PYTHONPATH=/path/to/modules).

RUST_LOG

If set, uv will use this value as the log level for its --verbose output. Accepts any filter compatible with the tracing_subscriber crate. For example: * RUST_LOG=uv=debug is the equivalent of adding --verbose to the command line * RUST_LOG=trace will enable trace-level logging.

See the tracing documentation for more.

SHELL

The standard SHELL posix env var.

SSL_CERT_FILE

Custom certificate bundle file path for SSL connections.

SSL_CLIENT_CERT

If set, uv will use this file for mTLS authentication. This should be a single file containing both the certificate and the private key in PEM format.

SYSTEMDRIVE

Path to system-level configuration directory on Windows systems.

TRACING_DURATIONS_FILE

Use to create the tracing durations file via the tracing-durations-export feature.

VIRTUAL_ENV

Used to detect an activated virtual environment.

VIRTUAL_ENV_DISABLE_PROMPT

If set to 1 before a virtual environment is activated, then the virtual environment name will not be prepended to the terminal prompt.

XDG_BIN_HOME

Path to directory where executables are installed.

XDG_CACHE_HOME

Path to cache directory on Unix systems.

XDG_CONFIG_DIRS

Path to system-level configuration directory on Unix systems.

XDG_CONFIG_HOME

Path to user-level configuration directory on Unix systems.

XDG_DATA_HOME

Path to directory for storing managed Python installations and tools.

ZDOTDIR

Used to determine which .zshenv to use when Zsh is being used.

ZSH_VERSION

Used to detect Zsh shell usage.