---
id: libucx-cu12
version: "1.21.0"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# libucx-cu12 — The Unified Communication X library (UCX)

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 203.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

libucx-cu12 is a wheel distribution of the UCX communication library, built and packaged by RAPIDS for use as a dependency in Python packages. UCX is a low-level communication framework used by high-performance computing and GPU-accelerated libraries; this package vendors the native library directly into a wheel to avoid conflicts with system-installed copies and to support dynamic loading at runtime.

The package is primarily consumed indirectly—other libraries like UCXX depend on it—rather than used directly in application code. Version numbers track the upstream UCX releases exactly (e.g., 1.21.0 corresponds to UCX v1.21.0), with post-release versions issued when packaging logic changes. The cu12 suffix indicates it is built for CUDA 12 environments.

Use it for:

- Installing as a transitive dependency when using RAPIDS libraries like UCXX that require UCX for GPU communication
- Building Python packages in RAPIDS ecosystems that need to link against or load UCX at runtime
- Ensuring portable, self-contained wheel distributions of GPU-accelerated Python libraries across different Linux systems

## Worth the install?

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

Provides pre-built wheels of the UCX (Unified Communication X) library for CUDA 12, bundling the native communication library for use by Python packages that depend on it.

Yes, if you are using RAPIDS libraries or other packages that declare libucx-cu12 as a dependency. Install it as a direct dependency only if you are building a package that needs UCX; otherwise, let your package manager pull it in transitively. No known security vulnerabilities and active maintenance make it safe to use.

## Install

pip install libucx-cu12
uv add libucx-cu12
poetry add libucx-cu12

## Installing libucx-cu12

Before you install: Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheels (aarch64 and x86_64 manylinux variants). Active maintenance with a recent release (9 days old) and steady repository activity suggests reliable upkeep.

License in practice: BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows use in most projects without significant restrictions, though attribution is required.

Quickstart:

pip install libucx-cu12==1.21.0

# Typically imported indirectly by packages like ucxx that depend on it
# Direct Python imports are not typical; this is a native library wheel

Requires Linux (manylinux_2_24 or later); CUDA 12 environment assumed by the cu12 variant; Python >=3.9

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works correctly with non-RAPIDS libraries that also depend on UCX
- Performance or compatibility implications of the dynamic library loading approach described in the documentation

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: medium
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 203.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ucx library wheels, unified communication x cuda, rapids ucx dependency, manylinux ucx binaries, ucx cu12 wheels, gpu-computing, rapids, native-library

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