pylibyear
A simple measure of software dependency freshness.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you need a quick, explainable measure of dependency age for auditing or reporting. The tool is lightweight, actively maintained, and solves a specific problem well. Not necessary if you already use a more comprehensive dependency scanner (e.g., one that also checks for security vulnerabilities or license compliance).AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.11 or later.
- Needs a requirements.txt or pyproject.toml file to analyze.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with six straightforward runtime dependencies (httpx, packaging, prettytable, python-dateutil, typer, typing-extensions).
License · maintenance · safety
MIT License (permissive) — MIT License permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most commercial and open-source projects.
last release 2026-06-27 (48 days) · last repo commit 2026-06-27 · 7 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 74,907 downloads/mo, #14,770 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install pylibyear
libyear text requirements.txt- Whether the package correctly handles all dependency formats (editable installs, git URLs, environment markers).
- Performance characteristics when analyzing very large dependency trees.
- How it handles packages with irregular or missing version history in PyPI.
What it is and what it does
Pylibyear is a CLI tool that audits your project's dependency freshness by comparing each installed package version against its latest available release on PyPI, then sums the time gaps into a single metric called "libyears." It reads from requirements.txt or pyproject.toml files and outputs a table showing each dependency's current version, latest version, and how many libyears behind it is.
The tool is designed around the principle that dependency age is a simple, explainable proxy for technical debt. A project with dependencies averaging one year old has accumulated one libyear of staleness; a project with ten dependencies each two years old accumulates twenty libyears. The package depends on httpx for PyPI queries, packaging for version parsing, prettytable for formatted output, python-dateutil for time calculations, and typer for CLI scaffolding.
Use it for
- Audit a legacy project's dependency stack to quantify technical debt before planning upgrades.
- Monitor dependency freshness in CI/CD pipelines and flag projects exceeding a staleness threshold.
- Generate a single metric for stakeholder reports on codebase maintenance health.
- Compare dependency age across multiple projects to prioritize which codebases need attention first.
- Identify which specific packages are dragging down your freshness score before starting an upgrade sprint.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you need a quick, explainable measure of dependency age for auditing or reporting.
The tool is lightweight, actively maintained, and solves a specific problem well. Not necessary if you already use a more comprehensive dependency scanner (e.g., one that also checks for security vulnerabilities or license compliance).
Install
pylibyear on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with six straightforward runtime dependencies (httpx, packaging, prettytable, python-dateutil, typer, typing-extensions). Requires Python 3.11 or later. Active maintenance with a recent release.
Requires Python 3.11 or later. Needs a requirements.txt or pyproject.toml file to analyze.
License in practice
MIT License permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for most commercial and open-source projects.
Quickstart
pip install pylibyear
libyear text requirements.txtVerify before relying
- Whether the package correctly handles all dependency formats (editable installs, git URLs, environment markers).
- Performance characteristics when analyzing very large dependency trees.
- How it handles packages with irregular or missing version history in PyPI.
Package facts
| License | MIT License permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.11 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 6 packageshttpxpackagingprettytablepython-dateutiltypertyping-extensions |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 48 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 74,907 / month, #14,770 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Programming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy |
Evidence: pylibyear-0.5.0-py3-none-any.whl
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