pip-check

What it is and what it does

pip-check is a command-line utility that wraps pip list --outdated and renders the output as a user-friendly table showing which of your installed packages have updates available. It parses pip's output and uses the packaging module to compare versions, then displays the results via terminaltables. The tool supports both the standard pip command and uv's pip interface, letting you pass an alternate pip executable via --cmd.

Typical use is a quick terminal check: run pip-check to see at a glance which packages are outdated, optionally filtered to local or user-installed packages only. It can also show update instructions for each outdated package. The package is stable and actively maintained, supporting Python 3.8 through 3.14.

Use it for:

• Quick terminal audit of outdated packages in your current environment before running a bulk update.
• CI/CD pipeline check to flag when dependencies have available updates.
• Filtering to show only non-dependency packages (packages you installed directly, not as transitive deps).
• Comparing package versions across different pip or uv installations using the --cmd flag.
• Generating update instructions for packages that need upgrading.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

pip-check displays all installed packages and their update status in a formatted table, wrapping pip list output with support for both pip and uv.

Yes. pip-check solves a real workflow problem—pip list --outdated is functional but hard to read—with minimal dependencies and no security vulnerabilities. Install friction is low, the license is permissive, and it works reliably across modern Python versions. The aging maintenance status (352 days since last release) is not a blocker for a stable, single-purpose utility with no active issues.

Install

pip-check on PyPI

pip install pip-check

uv add pip-check

poetry add pip-check

Installing pip-check

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python wheel with only two lightweight runtime dependencies (packaging and terminaltables). Maintenance status is aging—last release was 352 days ago, though the repository remains active and the codebase is stable.

License in practice

MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute this package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install pip-check

# Run from command line:
pip-check

# Or with uv:
pip-check --cmd "uv pip"

Requires Python 3.8 or later; pip or uv must be available in the environment.

Verify before relying

• Whether the package handles all edge cases in modern pip/uv output formats reliably.
• Performance characteristics when checking environments with hundreds or thousands of packages.

Package facts

Evidence: pip_check-3.2.1-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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