---
id: ipdb
version: "0.13.13"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# ipdb — IPython-enabled pdb

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 18.4M/mo

## What it is and what it does

ipdb is a drop-in replacement for Python's built-in pdb debugger that layers IPython's interactive features on top of the standard debugging interface. It provides tab completion, syntax highlighting, and improved tracebacks while keeping the same function signatures and workflow developers already know from pdb.

You use it by importing ipdb and calling set_trace() at a breakpoint, or by wrapping code in launch_ipdb_on_exception() to catch exceptions interactively. Configuration can be set via environment variables, a .ipdb file, setup.cfg, or pyproject.toml to control how many lines of context are shown. The package also provides command-line entry points (ipdb and ipdb3) to debug scripts directly.

Use it for:

- Debug Python scripts from the command line with enhanced introspection and tab completion instead of plain pdb.
- Set conditional breakpoints that trigger only when a specific condition is true using the cond parameter.
- Inspect code context with configurable line counts to see more or less surrounding code at each breakpoint.
- Catch and debug exceptions interactively without stopping the entire application using launch_ipdb_on_exception().
- Decorate functions to automatically launch the debugger if they raise an exception using the iex decorator.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

ipdb is an IPython-enabled debugger that replaces Python's standard pdb with tab completion, syntax highlighting, and better introspection while maintaining the same pdb interface.

Yes. ipdb is a low-friction, actively maintained tool that meaningfully improves the debugging experience by adding IPython's interactive features to pdb without changing the interface. No security vulnerabilities, permissive license, and broad Python version support make it a straightforward upgrade for any developer who debugs Python code.

## Install

pip install ipdb
uv add ipdb
poetry add ipdb

## Installing ipdb

Before you install: Low friction install with 5 runtime dependencies. Actively maintained as of 2026-02-27 with 1976 repository stars. No known security vulnerabilities.

License in practice: BSD permissive license allows use in most projects without significant restrictions.

Quickstart:

import ipdb
ipdb.set_trace()
# or
ipdb.set_trace(context=5)
# or
from ipdb import launch_ipdb_on_exception
with launch_ipdb_on_exception():
    pass

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package's IPython dependency constraints (varying by Python version per changelog) are automatically resolved by pip or require manual specification.
- Performance characteristics when debugging large codebases or long-running processes.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 18.4M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ipython debugger, enhanced pdb debugging, python debugger with syntax highlighting, interactive python debugging, pdb replacement, tab completion debugger, python breakpoint tool, debugging, repl, development-tools

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