setuptools

Installation and Setup

Install it from the Python Package Index (PyPI) into a virtual environment:

• Windows
• Linux + macOS

(venv) PS> py -m pip install setuptools

(venv) $ python -m pip install setuptools

Key Features

• Acts as a PEP 517 build backend and supports PEP 621 project metadata in pyproject.toml.
• Discovers packages automatically, detecting both the flat-layout and src/ layout without requiring any special configuration.
• Defines console scripts and plugin entry points that expose commands and extensibility hooks.
• Includes package data and supports extras, environment markers, and optional dependencies.
• Builds pure Python and compiled extension modules and integrates with common build tools.

Usage

A modern project declares its build system and metadata in pyproject.toml:

[build-system]
requires = ["setuptools"]
build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"

[project]
name = "package-name"
version = "0.1.0"
description = "Example package"
readme = "README.md"
requires-python = ">=3.10"
dependencies = ["requests>=2.32"]

# ...

Install your project in editable mode during development:

$ python -m pip install -e .

Related Resources

Tutorial

How to Manage Python Projects With pyproject.toml

Learn how to manage Python projects with the pyproject.toml configuration file. In this tutorial, you'll explore key use cases of the pyproject.toml file, including configuring your build, installing your package locally, managing dependencies, and publishing your package to PyPI.

intermediate tools

For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:

• Everyday Project Packaging With pyproject.toml (Course)
• How to Publish an Open-Source Python Package to PyPI (Tutorial)
• How to Manage Python Projects With pyproject.toml (Quiz)
• Publishing Python Packages to PyPI (Course)
• How to Publish Your Own Python Package to PyPI (Course)
• How to Publish an Open-Source Python Package to PyPI (Quiz)