pipfile

What it is and what it does

Pipfile is a design specification and early parser for a TOML-based dependency format meant to improve upon pip's requirements.txt. It introduces Pipfile (for loose version constraints and dependency groups) and Pipfile.lock (for fully pinned, deterministic environments with hashes). The package contains the specification, design documentation, and an incomplete parser implementation intended for use by pip and other tools.

The core concept addresses fragmentation of requirements files (dev-requirements.txt, test-requirements.txt, etc.) by consolidating dependencies into two groups: default and development. Pipfile.lock enables reproducible deployments by recording exact versions and hashes of all recursive dependencies. However, the project was under active design at release and remains dormant; pip's eventual integration of Pipfile support was planned but the package itself has not been maintained since 2017.

Use it for:

• Understanding the Pipfile specification design and format before pip integration was finalized
• Parsing Pipfile and Pipfile.lock documents in projects that adopted the format early
• Reference implementation for tools building Pipfile-compatible dependency management
• Historical reference for the evolution of Python dependency management standards

Worth the install?

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

Provides a design specification and parser for Pipfile and Pipfile.lock, a TOML-based format intended to replace requirements.txt for declaring Python dependencies with deterministic lock files.

No. This package is a dormant specification and incomplete parser from 2017. Modern Python projects should use alternative dependency management tools that have superseded the Pipfile concept. Install only if you are maintaining legacy code that explicitly depends on this package or studying the history of Python dependency management.

Install

pipfile on PyPI

pip install pipfile

uv add pipfile

poetry add pipfile

Installing pipfile

Before you install

High install friction with no runtime dependencies. Last release was in 2017 and the project has been dormant for many years, though the repository remains active with a recent commit in 2024. The package is primarily a specification and parser design rather than a maintained tool.

License in practice

Licensed under BSD or Apache License, Version 2.0 (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions. Both licenses are OSI-approved.

Quickstart

pip install pipfile==0.0.2

from pipfile import Pipfile
# Parse a Pipfile specification

This is a specification package with no runtime dependencies; actual Pipfile parsing functionality may be incomplete or require integration with pip itself, which was planned but not fully implemented at release time.

Verify before relying

• Whether the parser implementation is complete or if this remains primarily a specification document
• Current compatibility with modern Python versions beyond those listed in classifiers
• Whether pip has since integrated Pipfile support natively, potentially making this package obsolete

Package facts

Evidence: pipfile-0.0.2.tar.gz

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