uv

uv is pip but fast. Like, “blink and you missed it” fast. It resolves and installs dependencies in seconds where pip takes minutes. Written in Rust by the Astral team (same people who made Ruff).

Drop-in replacement for pip in most cases. uv pip install requests works exactly how you’d expect. It also handles virtual environments, lockfiles, and project management if you want that.

The speed difference is genuinely startling the first time you use it. Installing a project with 50 dependencies goes from “go make a coffee” to “already done.”

Why we use it: All our bot venvs are set up with uv now. The speed makes iteration painless.

Verdict: Hard to go back to regular pip after this. Just switch.