behave
behave is behaviour-driven development, Python style
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. behave is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, carries permissive licensing, and low install friction. It's a mature choice (Production/Stable status since 2011) for teams that want BDD-style acceptance testing with readable, collaborative test scenarios. Install it if your workflow involves non-technical stakeholders in test design or if you want executable specifications written in natural language.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires a features/ directory structure with .feature files (Gherkin syntax) and a steps/ subdirectory containing Python step definitions to function.
- Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution.
- The package is actively maintained with recent commits and carries 15 runtime dependencies including parsing libraries (parse, parse-type, cucumber-expressions) and compatibility shims (six, pathlib2, enum34) to support older Python versions.
License · maintenance · safety
BSD-2-Clause (permissive) — Licensed under BSD-2-Clause (permissive), which allows free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
last release 2025-09-04 (344 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 3,523 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 5,950,549 downloads/mo, #2,004 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install behave
# Create features/example.feature with Gherkin scenarios
# Create features/steps/example_steps.py with step implementations
from behave import given, when, then
@given('a precondition')
def step_impl(context):
pass
# Run: behave- Whether the 15 runtime dependencies (including older Python compatibility shims like enum34, pathlib2) are all actively maintained or if some are legacy holdovers.
- Performance characteristics or scalability limits when running large numbers of scenarios or steps.
What it is and what it does
behave is a Python implementation of behavior-driven development that bridges the gap between business requirements and test automation. It uses Gherkin—a plain-English syntax for writing test scenarios—paired with Python step implementations to create executable specifications that both technical and non-technical stakeholders can understand and collaborate on.
The framework reads .feature files containing human-readable scenarios (Given-When-Then format), maps each step to Python functions you write, and executes them as tests. It's designed for acceptance testing and cross-team communication rather than unit testing, making it useful when you need to document and validate business behavior in a format that bridges development and QA.
Use it for
- Write acceptance tests in plain English that product managers and QA can read and verify without reading Python code.
- Document system behavior as executable specifications that stay in sync with actual functionality.
- Automate end-to-end workflows where each step represents a user action or system state change.
- Enable non-technical stakeholders to contribute test scenarios by writing Gherkin without touching Python.
- Build a shared test suite that developers, QA, and business analysts can collaborate on and maintain together.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
behave is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, carries permissive licensing, and low install friction. It's a mature choice (Production/Stable status since 2011) for teams that want BDD-style acceptance testing with readable, collaborative test scenarios. Install it if your workflow involves non-technical stakeholders in test design or if you want executable specifications written in natural language.
Install
behave on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. The package is actively maintained with recent commits and carries 15 runtime dependencies including parsing libraries (parse, parse-type, cucumber-expressions) and compatibility shims (six, pathlib2, enum34) to support older Python versions.
Requires a features/ directory structure with .feature files (Gherkin syntax) and a steps/ subdirectory containing Python step definitions to function.
License in practice
Licensed under BSD-2-Clause (permissive), which allows free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install behave
# Create features/example.feature with Gherkin scenarios
# Create features/steps/example_steps.py with step implementations
from behave import given, when, then
@given('a precondition')
def step_impl(context):
pass
# Run: behaveVerify before relying
- Whether the 15 runtime dependencies (including older Python compatibility shims like enum34, pathlib2) are all actively maintained or if some are legacy holdovers.
- Performance characteristics or scalability limits when running large numbers of scenarios or steps.
Package facts
| License | BSD-2-Clause permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release !=3.0.*,!=3.1.*,!=3.2.*,>=2.7 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 15 packagescucumber-tag-expressionscucumber-expressionsenum34parseparse-typesixcontextlib2pathlibpathlib2scandirtraceback2win_unicode_consolecoloramatomlitoml |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 344 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 5,950,549 / month, #2,004 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleIntended Audience :: DevelopersOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 2Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7Programming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.5Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: JythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: Testing |
Evidence: behave-1.3.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl
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See also behave-django · behavex · pytest-bdd · radish-bdd · cucumber-tag-expressions · cucumber-expressions · terraform-compliance · vedro · behave-html-formatter · gherkin-official