setupmeta
Simplify your setup.py
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. setupmeta is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, minimal dependencies, and solves a genuine pain point in Python packaging. It's well-suited for projects that follow standard conventions. Install it if you want to eliminate setup.py boilerplate and adopt git-based versioning; skip it only if your project has highly non-standard metadata or you prefer explicit control over every setup.py detail.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires git >= 1.8.4 if using tag-based versioning; git tags must follow the pattern v{major}.{minor}.{patch} or v{major}.{minor}.0 depending on versioning mode.
- Low friction install with only setuptools as a runtime dependency.
- Actively maintained with recent releases and a stable codebase.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute freely provided you include the license notice.
last release 2026-02-17 (178 days) · last repo commit 2026-02-17 · 92 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 912,506 downloads/mo, #4,742 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install setupmeta
# In setup.py:
from setuptools import setup
setup(
name="myproject",
versioning="distance",
setup_requires="setupmeta"
)- Whether auto-detection of entry_points.ini, requirements.txt, and README files works reliably across different project layouts.
- How setupmeta handles edge cases when multiple candidate files exist (e.g., both requirements.in and requirements.txt).
- Performance impact when scanning large projects with many Python modules.
What it is and what it does
setupmeta is a setuptools plugin that eliminates boilerplate from setup.py by automatically discovering and extracting project metadata from conventional locations. Instead of manually specifying author, version, dependencies, and description, you provide minimal explicit configuration and setupmeta infers the rest by scanning your project structure, README files, git tags, and module docstrings. It supports three git-based versioning modes (distance, post, build-id) that compute version numbers from git history, and provides CLI commands to inspect what was deduced, bump versions, and validate metadata.
The package is designed for projects that follow Python packaging conventions: it looks for entry points in entry_points.ini, dependencies in requirements.txt or requirements.in, long descriptions in README files, and metadata constants in __init__.py or __version__.py. Everything you explicitly state in setup() takes precedence, so you can override any auto-detected value. It requires only setuptools as a runtime dependency and supports Python 3.7 through 3.14.
Use it for
- Reduce setup.py from dozens of lines to a minimal declaration by auto-extracting metadata from your project structure.
- Implement tag-based versioning where version numbers are computed from git history without manual version bumps in code.
- Validate that your project has all required metadata fields using the explain and check commands.
- Automate version bumping and git tagging via the version command instead of manually editing version strings.
- Migrate an existing project to setupmeta by gradually replacing explicit setup() arguments with auto-detection.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
setupmeta is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, minimal dependencies, and solves a genuine pain point in Python packaging. It's well-suited for projects that follow standard conventions. Install it if you want to eliminate setup.py boilerplate and adopt git-based versioning; skip it only if your project has highly non-standard metadata or you prefer explicit control over every setup.py detail.
Install
setupmeta on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction install with only setuptools as a runtime dependency. Actively maintained with recent releases and a stable codebase.
Requires git >= 1.8.4 if using tag-based versioning; git tags must follow the pattern v{major}.{minor}.{patch} or v{major}.{minor}.0 depending on versioning mode.
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute freely provided you include the license notice.
Quickstart
pip install setupmeta
# In setup.py:
from setuptools import setup
setup(
name="myproject",
versioning="distance",
setup_requires="setupmeta"
)Verify before relying
- Whether auto-detection of entry_points.ini, requirements.txt, and README files works reliably across different project layouts.
- How setupmeta handles edge cases when multiple candidate files exist (e.g., both requirements.in and requirements.txt).
- Performance impact when scanning large projects with many Python modules.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.7 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 1 packagesetuptools |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 178 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 912,506 / month, #4,742 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersOperating System :: MacOS :: MacOS XOperating System :: POSIXOperating System :: UnixProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: Build ToolsTopic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTopic :: Software Development :: Version ControlTopic :: System :: Installation/SetupTopic :: System :: Software DistributionTopic :: Utilities |
Evidence: setupmeta-3.9.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also setuptools-git-versioning · setuptools-odoo · versioningit · versioneer-518 · setuptools-markdown · versioneer · setuptools-scm-git-archive · autosemver · pickley · read-version