---
id: riot
version: "0.22.1"
license: Apache 2
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# riot — A simple Python test runner runner.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 148.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

riot is a virtual environment constructor and command runner that automates the creation and management of isolated Python environments. It lets you define multiple dependency configurations and run tests or commands across all of them in a reproducible way, without manually creating and activating separate venvs. The package depends on click for CLI handling, virtualenv for environment creation, rich for terminal output formatting, pexpect for subprocess interaction, packaging for version handling, and setuptools for installation support.

It's designed for scenarios where you need to test code against different versions of dependencies or Python itself—a common pattern in library development and CI/CD. Rather than writing shell scripts to loop through environment setup, you define your matrix once and riot handles the isolation and execution.

Use it for:

- Test a library against multiple Python versions (3.8 through 3.14) in isolated environments.
- Run integration tests with different versions of key dependencies to catch compatibility issues.
- Automate reproducible test matrices in CI/CD pipelines without manual venv management.
- Verify that a package works across a grid of Python and dependency combinations before release.
- Execute arbitrary commands (linting, building, benchmarking) in isolated, controlled environments.

## Worth the install?

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

riot constructs isolated Python virtual environments and runs commands within them, enabling reproducible testing across multiple dependency configurations.

Yes, if you need to test across multiple dependency or Python version configurations. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries a permissive license, and eliminates boilerplate around virtual environment management. It's most valuable in library development and CI/CD contexts; less relevant for single-environment applications.

## Install

pip install riot
uv add riot
poetry add riot

## Installing riot

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure-wheel distribution. Active maintenance (last commit 2026-07-09) and recent release cycle (39 days since 0.22.1). Depends on well-established packages: click, virtualenv, rich, pexpect, packaging, and setuptools.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache 2, a permissive license allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—no compatibility concerns for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install riot

from riot import __version__

# Typically invoked via CLI: riot run
# Creates and manages virtual environments per configuration

Requires Python 3.8 or later; pexpect dependency may have platform-specific behavior on Windows.

Verify before relying:

- Whether riot is designed for CI/CD pipelines or local development workflows (or both).
- How riot's configuration file format works and what syntax it expects.
- Whether riot can parallelize test runs across multiple environments.
- Integration patterns with existing test frameworks (pytest, unittest, etc.).

## Package facts

- License: Apache 2 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 148.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

virtual environment test runner, python test matrix runner, isolated environment command executor, multi-config test automation, dependency matrix testing, python environment constructor, reproducible test environments, test-automation, environment-management, ci-cd

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