---
id: tox-uv-bare
version: "1.36.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# tox-uv-bare — Integration of uv with tox (bare package, bring your own uv).

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 5.7M/mo

## What it is and what it does

tox-uv-bare is a plugin that integrates the uv package manager into tox's test environment lifecycle. Instead of using virtualenv to create isolated environments and pip to install dependencies, tox-uv-bare delegates both tasks to uv, which is significantly faster. The plugin provides new runner types (uv-venv-runner, uv-venv-lock-runner, uv-venv-pep-723) that you specify in your tox configuration to opt into uv-based environments.

This bare variant assumes you already have uv installed in your system or container—it does not bundle a uv binary. It's designed for containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes) where uv is pre-installed, avoiding duplicate binary downloads. You configure it by setting runner = uv-venv-runner (or the lock-file variant) in your tox.ini, and tox discovers uv via TOX_UV_PATH environment variable, bundled binary (if using the non-bare package), or system PATH.

Use it for:

- Speed up CI/CD pipelines by replacing pip with uv's faster resolver in tox test environments.
- Use uv.lock files in tox to pin exact dependency versions across test runs for reproducibility.
- Deploy tox in Docker containers where uv is already installed, avoiding redundant binary bundling.
- Run PEP 723 inline script metadata through tox with uv as the backend instead of virtualenv.
- Manage multiple Python versions and dependency groups in tox using uv's dependency group support.

## Worth the install?

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

tox-uv-bare is a tox plugin that replaces virtualenv and pip with uv for test environment management, without bundling a uv binary—you provide your own uv installation.

Yes, if you already have uv installed and want faster tox test runs. The bare package is the right choice for containerized environments. No friction on install, active maintenance, no known vulnerabilities, and permissive MIT license. The main trade-off is that you inherit both uv's performance gains and any bugs—verify uv compatibility with your project first.

## Install

pip install tox-uv-bare
uv add tox-uv-bare
poetry add tox-uv-bare

## Installing tox-uv-bare

Before you install: Low install friction; pure Python wheel with four runtime dependencies (packaging, tomli, tox, typing-extensions). Active maintenance with a release 24 days ago and 351 repository stars.

License in practice: MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—suitable for most projects.

Quickstart:

pip install tox tox-uv-bare
# In tox.ini:
# [testenv]
# runner = uv-venv-runner
# commands = pytest
tox r -e py312

Requires uv to be installed separately in your system or container; tox-uv-bare does not bundle it.

Verify before relying:

- Whether performance gains from uv over virtualenv+pip are measurable for typical test suites.
- Compatibility matrix with specific uv versions and whether version mismatches cause silent failures.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 5.7M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

tox plugin uv integration, fast python testing environments, uv virtualenv replacement, tox environment runner, python test isolation with uv, testing-infrastructure, uv-integration

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/tox-uv-bare) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/tox-uv-bare/)