cbcbox
Binary distribution of the CBC MILP solver (COIN-OR Branch and Cut)
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. cbcbox is actively maintained (last release 1 day old), has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a real problem—providing a production-ready MILP solver without compilation or system library friction. The EPL-2.0 copyleft license is standard for COIN-OR and poses no barrier for non-commercial or proprietary use of the package as-is. Install it if you need to solve integer or linear programs and want a self-contained, cross-platform distribution.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.8 or later.
- On x86_64 systems, the package automatically selects an AVX2-optimized binary if the CPU supports it; otherwise falls back to a generic build.
- Can be overridden via CBCBOX_BUILD environment variable.
License · maintenance · safety
EPL-2.0 (copyleft) — Licensed under EPL-2.0 (copyleft). Users must comply with copyleft obligations if they modify or redistribute the package; proprietary applications using cbcbox as-is without modification face no additional licensing burden, but derivative works must remain open-source under compatible terms.
last release 2026-08-13 (1 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 14 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 150,602 downloads/mo, #10,960 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install cbcbox
import cbcbox
import subprocess
result = subprocess.run(
[cbcbox.cbc_bin_path(), "model.mps", "-solve", "-quit"],
capture_output=True, text=True
)
print(result.stdout)- Whether the automatic CPU dispatch at import time has measurable overhead or latency impact in practice.
- Performance characteristics of parallel branch-and-cut on specific problem classes or hardware configurations.
- Stability and maturity of the barrier (interior-point) solver with AMD Cholesky on large sparse problems.
What it is and what it does
cbcbox packages the COIN-OR CBC branch-and-cut solver as a ready-to-use Python wheel, eliminating the need to compile or install system libraries. It solves mixed-integer linear programs (MILPs) and linear programs (LPs) via command-line or programmatic Python interface, with support for LP, MPS, and compressed MPS file formats.
The package ships with two complete solver stacks on x86_64 platforms: a Haswell-optimized build using AVX2 instructions for maximum speed (approximately 2.8× faster on average) and a generic build with runtime CPU dispatch for compatibility with any x86_64 machine. All dependencies—OpenBLAS, libgfortran, SuiteSparse AMD—are bundled. Parallel branch-and-cut is enabled, allowing multi-threaded search tree exploration. The barrier solver includes AMD fill-reducing ordering for improved performance on large sparse problems.
Use it for
- Solve production MILP instances without managing a separate CBC installation or system dependencies.
- Benchmark or prototype optimization algorithms using CBC as the underlying solver engine.
- Distribute optimization-based applications to end users without requiring them to compile or configure solvers.
- Use parallel branch-and-cut to accelerate hard MIP instances on multi-core machines.
- Leverage barrier + AMD Cholesky for faster LP relaxation solving on large sparse problems.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
cbcbox is actively maintained (last release 1 day old), has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a real problem—providing a production-ready MILP solver without compilation or system library friction. The EPL-2.0 copyleft license is standard for COIN-OR and poses no barrier for non-commercial or proprietary use of the package as-is. Install it if you need to solve integer or linear programs and want a self-contained, cross-platform distribution.
Install
cbcbox on PyPI
Before you install
Installation is straightforward via pip with no runtime dependencies to manage. The package ships pre-built wheels for x86_64 and ARM platforms with all dynamic dependencies (OpenBLAS, libgfortran) bundled. Medium install friction reflects the wheel size and platform-specific binary selection, but no compilation or system library setup is required.
Requires Python 3.8 or later. On x86_64 systems, the package automatically selects an AVX2-optimized binary if the CPU supports it; otherwise falls back to a generic build. Can be overridden via CBCBOX_BUILD environment variable.
License in practice
Licensed under EPL-2.0 (copyleft). Users must comply with copyleft obligations if they modify or redistribute the package; proprietary applications using cbcbox as-is without modification face no additional licensing burden, but derivative works must remain open-source under compatible terms.
Quickstart
pip install cbcbox
import cbcbox
import subprocess
result = subprocess.run(
[cbcbox.cbc_bin_path(), "model.mps", "-solve", "-quit"],
capture_output=True, text=True
)
print(result.stdout)Verify before relying
- Whether the automatic CPU dispatch at import time has measurable overhead or latency impact in practice.
- Performance characteristics of parallel branch-and-cut on specific problem classes or hardware configurations.
- Stability and maturity of the barrier (interior-point) solver with AMD Cholesky on large sparse problems.
Package facts
| License | EPL-2.0 copyleft |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.8 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 1 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 150,602 / month, #10,960 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Intended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchLicense :: OSI Approved :: Eclipse Public License 2.0 (EPL-2.0)Operating System :: MacOSOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: POSIX :: LinuxProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Mathematics |
Evidence: cbcbox-2.931-py3-none-macosx_15_0_arm64.whl; cbcbox-2.931-py3-none-macosx_15_0_x86_64.whl; cbcbox-2.931-py3-none-manylinux2014_aarch64.whl; cbcbox-2.931-py3-none-manylinux2014_x86_64.whl; cbcbox-2.931-py3-none-win_amd64.whl
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