---
id: flit-core
version: "4.0.2"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# flit-core — Distribution-building parts of Flit. See flit package for more information

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Popularity: top 1,000 on PyPI

## Install

pip install flit-core
uv add flit-core
poetry add flit-core

## Description

**Flit** is a simple way to put Python packages and modules on PyPI.
It tries to require less thought about packaging and help you avoid common
mistakes.
See `Why use Flit? <https://flit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/rationale.html>`_ for
more about how it compares to other Python packaging tools.

Install
-------

::

    $ python3 -m pip install flit

Flit requires Python 3 and therefore needs to be installed using the Python 3
version of pip.

Python 2 modules can be distributed using Flit, but need to be importable on
Python 3 without errors.

Usage
-----

Say you're writing a module ``foobar`` — either as a single file ``foobar.py``,
or as a directory — and you want to distribute it.

1. Make sure that foobar's docstring starts with a one-line summary of what
   the module is, and that it has a ``__version__``:

   .. code-block:: python

       """An amazing sample package!"""

       __version__ = "0.1"

2. Install flit if you don't already have it::

       python3 -m pip install flit

3. Run ``flit init`` in the directory containing the module to create a
   ``pyproject.toml`` file. It will look something like this:

   .. code-block:: ini

       [build-system]...

## AI interpretation — verify before relying

flit-core provides the build backend for Flit, a Python packaging tool that simplifies creating and publishing packages to PyPI by extracting metadata from module docstrings and version attributes.

Verdict: flit-core is a lightweight, actively maintained build backend with zero runtime dependencies, permissive licensing, and no known vulnerabilities. It is well-suited for developers seeking a straightforward packaging solution backed by strong community adoption.

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/flit-core) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/flit-core/)