Install Applications

Installing a Package and its Applications

Install an application with:

pipx install PACKAGE

pipx creates a virtual environment, installs the package, and adds its entry points to a location on your PATH. pipx install pycowsay makes the pycowsay command available system-wide while sandboxing pycowsay in its own virtual environment. No sudo required. To install for all users on the system, pass --global after the subcommand (see Configure Paths).

>> pipx install pycowsay
  installed package pycowsay 2.0.3, Python 3.10.3
  These apps are now globally available
    - pycowsay
done! ✨ 🌟 ✨


>> pipx list
venvs are in /home/user/.local/share/pipx/venvs
apps are exposed on your $PATH at /home/user/.local/bin
   package pycowsay 2.0.3, Python 3.10.3
    - pycowsay


# Now you can run pycowsay from anywhere
>> pycowsay mooo
  ____
< mooo >
  ====
         \
          \
            ^__^
            (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Picking a Python interpreter

Pass --python to install with a specific Python version. When that Python isn't on your PATH, pipx can download a python-build-standalone build for you:

pipx install --python 3.13 --fetch-python=missing pycowsay

Pass --fetch-python=always to use a fresh standalone build instead of any system Python. Reach for it when a distro patched the system Python in ways you can't tolerate. See the Standalone Python how-to for more options.