doit
doit - Automation Tool
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. doit is stable (Production/Stable status since 2008), has no security vulnerabilities, installs with zero friction, and solves a real problem—incremental task execution—that shell-based build systems handle poorly. The aging maintenance status is not concerning given the project's maturity and recent activity. Install it if you need efficient, Python-native task automation.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later.
- Low install friction with no runtime dependencies.
- Maintenance status is aging—last release was 186 days ago—but the project remains active with recent commits and a stable codebase.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license is permissive, allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions; attribution is required but no copyleft obligations apply.
last release 2026-02-09 (186 days) · last repo commit 2026-02-12 · 2,079 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 856,527 downloads/mo, #4,887 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install doit
Create dodo.py:
def task_hello():
return {
'actions': ['echo "Hello from doit" > hello.txt'],
'targets': ['hello.txt'],
'clean': True,
}
Run: doit- Whether the plugin architecture and extensibility model are documented well enough for typical use cases.
- Performance characteristics when running hundreds or thousands of tasks in parallel.
What it is and what it does
doit is a task automation tool written in pure Python that replaces shell-based build systems like make. You define tasks as Python functions in a dodo.py file, specifying file dependencies, targets, and actions. doit tracks which files have changed and skips tasks that are already up-to-date, running only the work that matters. It handles task ordering automatically via dependency resolution, supports parallel execution of independent tasks, and lets you generate tasks dynamically or compute dependencies at runtime—all without a domain-specific language or configuration files.
The tool is designed for developers, system administrators, and researchers who need reproducible, efficient build pipelines. It works across Python 3.10 through 3.13 and has no external runtime dependencies, making it lightweight to install and integrate into existing Python projects.
Use it for
- Build and test pipelines that should skip unchanged components to save time in CI/CD workflows.
- Scientific computing workflows where intermediate results are cached and reused across experiment runs.
- Documentation generation that regenerates only modified source files and their dependents.
- Data processing pipelines with complex interdependencies between stages.
- Automation of repetitive development tasks like code generation, linting, and deployment steps.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
doit is stable (Production/Stable status since 2008), has no security vulnerabilities, installs with zero friction, and solves a real problem—incremental task execution—that shell-based build systems handle poorly. The aging maintenance status is not concerning given the project's maturity and recent activity. Install it if you need efficient, Python-native task automation.
Install
doit on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. Maintenance status is aging—last release was 186 days ago—but the project remains active with recent commits and a stable codebase.
Requires Python 3.10 or later.
License in practice
MIT license is permissive, allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions; attribution is required but no copyleft obligations apply.
Quickstart
pip install doit
Create dodo.py:
def task_hello():
return {
'actions': ['echo "Hello from doit" > hello.txt'],
'targets': ['hello.txt'],
'clean': True,
}
Run: doitVerify before relying
- Whether the plugin architecture and extensibility model are documented well enough for typical use cases.
- Performance characteristics when running hundreds or thousands of tasks in parallel.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Aging 186 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 856,527 / month, #4,887 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 :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Information TechnologyIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchIntended Audience :: System AdministratorsLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseNatural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: OS IndependentOperating System :: POSIXProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Topic :: Scientific/EngineeringTopic :: Software Development :: Build ToolsTopic :: Software Development :: Quality AssuranceTopic :: Software Development :: Testing |
Evidence: doit-0.37.0-py3-none-any.whl
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