usethis

Automate Python project setup and development tasks that are otherwise performed manually.

usethis knows about popular Python tools, workflows and frameworks, and knows how they interact. It can declaratively add and remove tools, configure them, and set up the project for you in a way that won't break your existing configuration and it will make the necessary adjustments to your project configuration files.

usethis gives detailed messages about what it is doing (and what you need to do next).

• Output beginning with ✔ represents a task which usethis has automated.
• Output beginning with ☐ represents a task which you need to perform manually.
• Output beginning with ℹ gives hints and tips.

Inspired by an R package of the same name, this package brings a similar experience to the Python ecosystem as a CLI tool.

Tip

usethis is great for fresh projects using uv, but also supports updating existing projects. However, this should be considered experimental. If you encounter problems or have feedback, please open an issue.

Highlights

• 🧰 First-class support for state-of-the-practice tooling: uv, Ruff, pytest, pre-commit, and many more.
• 🤖 Automatically add and remove tools: declare, install, and configure in one step.
• 🧠 Powerful knowledge of how different tools interact and sensible defaults.
• 🔄 Update existing configuration files automatically.
• 📢 Fully declarative project configuration.
• ⚡ Get started on a new Python project or a new workflow in seconds.

🧭 Getting Started

First, it is strongly recommended you install the uv package manager: this is a simple, documented process. If you're already using uv, make sure you're using at least version v0.5.29 (run uv version to check, and uv self update to upgrade).

Tip

At the moment, usethis assumes you will have uv installed in some circumstances. Support for projects that don't use uv is planned for late 2025.

You can install usethis directly into the project environment:

# With uv
$ uv add --dev usethis

# With pip
$ pip install usethis

Alternatively, you can also run usethis commands in isolation, using uvx or pipx. For example, to add Ruff to the project:

# With uv
$ uvx usethis tool ruff

# With pipx
$ pipx run usethis tool ruff

🖥️ Command Line Interface

Manage Tooling

• usethis ci
• usethis tool

Manage Configuration

• usethis author
• usethis docstyle
• usethis rule

Manage README

• usethis badge
• usethis readme

Information

• usethis list
• usethis version
• usethis browse pypi
• usethis show

💡 Example Usage

To use Ruff on a fresh project, run:

$ uvx usethis tool ruff
✔ Writing 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Adding dependency 'ruff' to the 'dev' group in 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Adding Ruff config to 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Selecting Ruff rules 'A', 'C4', 'E4', 'E7', 'E9', 'F', 'FLY', 'FURB', 'I', 'PLE', 'PLR', 'RUF', 'SIM', 'UP' in 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Ignoring Ruff rules 'PLR2004', 'SIM108' in 'pyproject.toml'.
☐ Run 'uv run ruff check --fix' to run the Ruff linter with autofixes.
☐ Run 'uv run ruff format' to run the Ruff formatter.

To use pytest, run:

$ uvx usethis tool pytest
✔ Adding dependency 'pytest' to the 'test' group in 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Adding pytest config to 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Selecting Ruff rule 'PT' in 'pyproject.toml'.
✔ Creating '/tests'.
✔ Writing '/tests/conftest.py'.
☐ Add test files to the '/tests' directory with the format 'test_*.py'.
☐ Add test functions with the format 'test_*()'.
☐ Run 'uv run pytest' to run the tests.

To configure Bitbucket pipelines, run:

$ uvx usethis ci bitbucket
✔ Writing 'bitbucket-pipelines.yml'.
✔ Adding cache 'uv' definition to 'bitbucket-pipelines.yml'.
✔ Adding 'Run Ruff' to default pipeline in 'bitbucket-pipelines.yml'.
✔ Adding 'Test on 3.12' to default pipeline in 'bitbucket-pipelines.yml'.
✔ Adding 'Test on 3.13' to default pipeline in 'bitbucket-pipelines.yml'.
☐ Run your pipeline via the Bitbucket website.

🖥️ Command Reference

usethis tool

Add a new tool to a Python project, including:

• declared & installed dependencies with uv add,
• relevant pyproject.toml configuration,
• any other relevant directories or tool-bespoke configuration files, and
• .pre-commit-config.yaml configuration if using pre-commit.

Code Quality Tools

• usethis tool codespell - Use the codespell spellchecker: detect common spelling mistakes.
• usethis tool deptry - Use the deptry linter: avoid missing or superfluous dependency declarations.
• usethis tool import-linter - Use Import Linter: enforce a self-imposed architecture on imports.
• usethis tool pre-commit - Use the pre-commit framework to manage and maintain pre-commit hooks.
• usethis tool pyproject-fmt - Use the pyproject-fmt linter: opinionated formatting of 'pyproject.toml' files.
• usethis tool ruff - Use Ruff: an extremely fast Python linter and code formatter.

Testing

• usethis tool coverage - Use coverage: a code coverage measurement tool.
• usethis tool pytest - Use the pytest testing framework.

Configuration Files

• usethis tool pyproject.toml - Use a pyproject.toml file to configure the project.
• usethis tool requirements.txt - Use a requirements.txt file exported from the uv lockfile.

Supported options:

• --remove to remove the tool instead of adding it
• --how to only print how to use the tool, with no other side effects
• --offline to disable network access and rely on caches
• --frozen to leave the virtual environment and lockfile unchanged
• --quiet to suppress output

usethis ci

Add Continuous Integration pipelines to the project.

Currently supported platforms:

• usethis ci bitbcuket

Supported options:

• --remove to remove the CI configuration instead of adding it
• --offline to disable network access and rely on caches
• --quiet to suppress output

usethis badge

Add badges to README.md.

Currently supported badges:

• usethis badge pre-commit
• usethis badge pypi
• usethis badge ruff
• usethis badge usethis
• usethis badge uv

Supported options:

• --remove to remove the badge instead of adding it
• --offline to disable network access and rely on caches
• --quiet to suppress output

usethis rule <rulecode>

Add (or manage configuration) of Ruff and Deptry rules in pyproject.toml.

Example:

usethis rule RUF001

Supported options:

• --remove to remove the rule selection or ignore status.
• --ignore to add the rule to the ignore list (or remove it if --remove is specified).
• --offline to disable network access and rely on caches
• --quiet to suppress output

usethis docstyle

Set a docstring style convention for the project, and enforce it with Ruff.

Currently supported docstring styles:

• usethis docstyle numpy
• usethis docstyle google
• usethis docstyle pep257

Supported options:

• --quiet to suppress output

usethis readme

Add a README.md file to the project.

Supported options:

• --quiet to suppress output
• --badges to also add badges to the README.md file

usethis author

Set new author information for the project.

Required options:

• --name for the new author's name

Other supported options:

• --email to set the author email address
• --overwrite to overwrite all existing author information
• --quiet to suppress output

usethis list

Display a table of all available tools and their current usage status.

usethis version

Display the current version of usethis.

usethis show

Show a piece of information about the project.

Currently supported subcommands:

• usethis show name to show the name of the project.
• usethis show sonarqube to show appropriate contents of a sonar-projects.properties file for SonarQube analysis.

usethis browse pypi <package>

Display or open the PyPI landing page associated with another project.

Example:

usethis browse pypi numpy

Supported options:

• --browser to open the link in the browser automatically.

📚 Similar Projects

Not sure if usethis is the exact fit for your project?

The closest match to usethis is PyScaffold. It provides a Command Line Interface to automate the creation of a project from a sensible templated structure.

You could also consider your own hard-coded template. Templating tools such as Cookiecutter and Copier allow you to create static templates with fixed configuration you can use across multiple projects. However, it's not always obvious which template you should use, and many do not use state-of-practice tooling such as pyproject.toml. Also, sometimes a template can overwhelm you with too many unfamiliar tools.

You could consider this template which works with Copier, or this template which works with Cookiecutter.

Tip

You can still use usethis as a part of a templates using hooks for Cookiecutter and tasks for Copier.

One of usethis's strengths is that it can update existing configuration. If you're using Cookiecutter, then you can update to a latest version of a template using a tool like cruft. Copier has inbuilt support for template updating.

🚀 Development

Roadmap

Major features planned for later in 2025 are:

• Support for users who aren't using uv, e.g. poetry users,
• Support for automated GitHub Actions workflows (#57),
• Support for a typechecker (likely Pyright, #121), and
• Support for documentation pages (likely using mkdocs, #188).

Other features are tracked in the GitHub Issues page.

Contributing

See the CONTRIBUTING.md file.

License

usethis is licensed under the MIT license (LICENSE or https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in usethis by you, as defined in the Apache License, Version 2.0, (https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0), shall be licensed under the MIT license, without any additional terms or conditions.