UV: A Modern Python Package Manager Inspired by Cargo

Python has long relied on pip as its default package manager, and while it has served the community well, its limitations become more apparent as projects scale and dependency management becomes increasingly complex. Enter UV — a blazing-fast, Rust-powered Python package manager that’s poised to become a serious alternative to pip and even pipx. Built by the team at Astral, UV brings speed, reliability, and a developer experience reminiscent of Rust’s beloved cargo.

In this article, we’ll explore what UV is, how it improves upon pip, practical use cases, its similarities to Cargo, and its current limitations.

What is UV?

UV is a Python package manager written in Rust, designed to be fast, deterministic, and user-friendly. It aims to be a drop-in replacement for pip, pipx, and virtualenv — consolidating these tools into a single, high-performance binary.

UV’s key goals are:

Speed: UV leverages Rust’s performance advantages, making it dramatically faster than pip.
Determinism: Ensures reproducible builds via lockfiles.
All-in-one tooling: Combines package installation, dependency resolution, virtual environment management, and execution into one command-line interface.

At the time of writing, UV is under active development but already supports many common use cases for everyday Python developers.

How UV is Better than pip

While pip is reliable and battle-tested, it has several shortcomings that UV addresses head-on:

Feature	pip	UV
Performance	Slower, especially on large installs	Extremely fast (10x or more in many cases)
Lockfile Support	pip itself lacks proper lockfile support (delegated to pip-tools or poetry)	Native support for `uv.lock`, ensuring deterministic installs
Virtual Environment Handling	Requires `virtualenv` or `venv`	Built-in and seamless
Security	No hash-checking by default	Enforces hash-based verification for all dependencies
Unified Tooling	Fragmented (pip + pipx + virtualenv + pip-tools)	One binary, one toolchain
Cross-platform	Yes	Yes, with excellent support thanks to Rust

UV is not just faster — it simplifies the Python packaging landscape by removing the need for multiple tools and wrappers.

Real-World Use Cases for UV

UV isn’t just a faster pip — it reimagines the whole Python project workflow. Here’s a hands-on look at how to use UV effectively in real projects.

Installing UV

You can install UV in multiple ways:

Using Cargo (if you have Rust installed):

cargo install --git https://github.com/astral-sh/uv uv

Follow the instructions for more ways to install UV for specific OS.

Setting Up a New Project

Creating a new project called hello-world using UV:

$ uv init hello-world
$ cd hello-world

UV will create the following files:

.
├── .python-version
├── README.md
├── main.py
└── pyproject.toml

Follow the instructions to find more ways to work with files and the use of the files generated.

Installing a Package Using UV

Adding new packages to the project:

$ # Install the latest version of a package
$ uv add requests

$ # Specify a version constraint
uv add 'requests==2.31.0'

# Add a git dependency
uv add git+https://github.com/psf/requests

Follow the instructions for more ways to manage project dependencies

Setting Up a Virtual Environment with UV

Creating a default environment using UV:

uv venv

Creating an environment with a specific name:

uv venv my-name

When using default environment name, UV will automatically find and use the virtual environment. This avoids the need to activating the environment.

Follow the instructions to understand more ways to use environment in UV.

Installing All Requirements at Once

Running Your Project

Drawbacks of UV

As promising as UV is, it’s not without its caveats:

Still under development: Not all pip features are supported yet; edge cases may not work as expected.
Community adoption: pip is deeply entrenched in the Python ecosystem, and migrating large projects may take time.
Compatibility gaps: Some packaging workflows (like editable installs, complex build backends, or certain PEPs) may not be fully supported yet.
Learning curve: For teams used to pip + virtualenv + pip-tools, adapting to a new tool might require process changes.

That said, the UV team is actively working to fill in the gaps — and the pace of development is encouraging.

Conclusion

UV represents a significant step forward for Python tooling. With its Rust foundation, Cargo-inspired design, and a unified approach to packaging, it’s redefining what package management can look like for Python developers.

While it’s not quite ready to replace pip in every project, UV is already a compelling choice for new applications and for developers seeking a faster, cleaner workflow. If you’ve ever admired Cargo and wished for something similar in Python — UV is your answer.

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