Python for Excel, 2nd Edition

Appendix A. The uv Package Manager

In Chapter 2, I instructed you to run uv sync, which took care of installing Python and all the packages that we used in this book. In this appendix, I’ll show you how to create a new project with uv and how to add, remove, and upgrade dependencies. I’ll also introduce the --project option that lets you work outside your project directory. I’ll conclude with a brief overview of other package managers that you should know about.

Prerequisites

This appendix assumes that you have uv installed as described in Chapter 2.

Creating a New Project

To create a new project with uv, open the Terminal and change into the directory where you’d like to create your project folder. For the purpose of this appendix, call the project myproject and create it in your user directory:

Terminal (Windows)

cd %USERPROFILE%
uv init --python=3.14 myproject

Terminal (macOS)

cd ~
uv init --python=3.14 myproject

Replace --python=3.14 with the Python version you want to use. You can get a list of available Python versions by running uv python list.

Select a Local Folder

Make sure to create uv projects in a local folder on your machine. Since uv installs the Python environment into the project folder, using services like OneDrive or Dropbox will cause the virtual environment to be uploaded to the cloud, which will be very slow.

Now change into the myproject directory and sync the environment:

Terminal (Windows and macOS)

cd myproject
uv sync

This creates the virtual ...