installer
A library for installing Python wheels.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you are building packaging infrastructure or a tool that needs to install wheels programmatically. The low dependency count, active maintenance, and MIT license make it a solid choice for integration. Not necessary for typical application development—use pip or your package manager instead.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later.
- No runtime dependencies and a pure-Python wheel distribution make this straightforward to install.
- The project is actively maintained with recent commits and is part of the PyPA ecosystem.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for integration into other tools and projects.
last release 2026-05-11 (95 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-10 · 146 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 92,681,417 downloads/mo, #366 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install installer
from installer.sources import WheelSource
from installer.destinations import SchemeDictionaryDestination
# Unpack a wheel to a target directory
with WheelSource.from_file('package.whl') as source:
destination = SchemeDictionaryDestination({}, interpreter='/usr/bin/python3')
source.install(destination)- Whether the library is suitable for end-user package installation or primarily intended for build/packaging tools.
- Performance characteristics when handling large wheels or many installations.
- Extent of platform-specific behavior beyond the stated platform-independent script wrapper generation.
What it is and what it does
Installer is a low-level library that handles the mechanics of unpacking and installing Python packages from wheel files. It provides the core abstractions and logic needed to take a wheel distribution and place its contents into the correct locations on a system, including handling of metadata, scripts, and platform-specific paths. The library is designed to be extensible, offering both simple built-in implementations and the ability to customize the installation process.
This is infrastructure-level code, typically used by package managers, build tools, and other packaging utilities rather than by application developers directly. It handles the technical details of wheel installation—what goes where, how to generate Python script wrappers, and how to manage the unpacking process—leaving higher-level concerns like dependency resolution to other tools.
Use it for
- Build tools and package managers that need to install wheels without depending on pip.
- Custom installation workflows where you need fine-grained control over where and how wheel contents are placed.
- Testing and validation frameworks that need to install packages programmatically.
- Packaging tools that generate or manipulate wheels and need to verify installation behavior.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you are building packaging infrastructure or a tool that needs to install wheels programmatically.
The low dependency count, active maintenance, and MIT license make it a solid choice for integration. Not necessary for typical application development—use pip or your package manager instead.
Install
installer on PyPI
Before you install
No runtime dependencies and a pure-Python wheel distribution make this straightforward to install. The project is actively maintained with recent commits and is part of the PyPA ecosystem.
Requires Python 3.10 or later.
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for integration into other tools and projects.
Quickstart
pip install installer
from installer.sources import WheelSource
from installer.destinations import SchemeDictionaryDestination
# Unpack a wheel to a target directory
with WheelSource.from_file('package.whl') as source:
destination = SchemeDictionaryDestination({}, interpreter='/usr/bin/python3')
source.install(destination)Verify before relying
- Whether the library is suitable for end-user package installation or primarily intended for build/packaging tools.
- Performance characteristics when handling large wheels or many installations.
- Extent of platform-specific behavior beyond the stated platform-independent script wrapper generation.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 95 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 92,681,417 / month, #366 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14 |
Evidence: installer-1.0.1-py3-none-any.whl
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