Python venv

What hackers pick instead

• uvReplaces pip, pyenv and venv, installing the right Python version and running scripts with inline dependencies without manual setup, though some dislike its quirks and Astral's OpenAI ties.533recommend
• pipThe standard Python package installer: free, stable, and it works fine for common cases. Critics say its old internal design makes it slow and hard to fix.46recommend
• PoetryPython packaging tool many used happily before uv, valued for handling dependencies. Critics note it does not manage Python versions or virtual environments.20recommend
• virtualenvGives each Python project its own separate package environment, and many report few problems with it. Critics call it a hack and say it isn't relocatable out of the box.10recommend
• pipxRuns Python command-line tools in isolated environments so they stay separate and safe, with the virtual environment handled under the hood.10recommend

Every quote

The 29 most detailed of 30 comments. Each links to the original.

1. The whole concept of a venv is great! But the concept of needing to source an activation script is... just... completely foreign to me.

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “A surprise with how '#!' handles its program argument in practice”

2. I've done this for years to keep my individual projects separate and not changing activations when switching directories.

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “A surprise with how '#!' handles its program argument in practice”

3. The brilliant part about venvs is that A and B can have their completely separate mutually incompatible environments.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Go Away Python”

4. It's just fine. You install your packages and use your packages and that's the whole story.

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “Migrating from Go to Rust”

5. If you are using Python it should be creating separate venv's for different skills.

   Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “MCP Is Overengineered, Skills Are Too Primitive”

6. natively supported python solution that was made part of the standard library

   Recommends · Nov 2025

7. Even the built in venv would've solved most of his issues too.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Show HN: Three new Kitten TTS models – smallest less than 25MB”

8. the original interface is terrible piece of design

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Hard Rust requirements from May onward”

9. Set up a venv, install with pip, done.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Using Python for Scripting”

10. a weird hack of hardlinks and relative paths that no other language seems to need, and a clumsy two-step dance of a UX

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Are you expected to run five Python type-checkers now?”

11. venv has always been a pain - ensuring you're always in the right venv, shell support, etc.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Go Away Python”

12. is a structural UX failure

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Migrating from Go to Rust”

13. set up the virtual environment and then launch the virtual environment's Python executable

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Go Away Python”

14. Then I discovered python -m venv, put all my venvs in a directory in a fast hard drive

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Ask HN: Why would anyone still use Poetry now that uv exists?”

15. I never got to the "nightmare" stage before learning about venvs.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: Why Did Python Win?”

16. I still like to setup projects and environments with my own

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Astral to Join OpenAI”

17. gets in the way the least but it's also not very helpful

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Go Away Python”

18. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with venvs.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Breaking Changes in Python-3.14”

19. clunkier and less flexible than what came after

    Mixed · Oct 2026

20. Otherwise you should always use a venv

    Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Docker Sandboxes – Disposable, isolated sandboxes for AI agents”

21. Much better solution than lock files.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Stop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead (2016)”

22. venv's are essential to that

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Why Node.js needs a virtual file system”

23. The Python ecosystem has taken a huge step backwards with the preachy attitude that you have to do everything in a venv.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Go Away Python”

24. meta-dependencies (dependabot, pnpm/yarn, poetry/venv/pipenv, snap/flatpak)

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “Turn Dependabot Off”

25. Unfortunately those are all over the place with traditional venv setups

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Portable_Python: Self-contained Python distribution for Linux”

26. Poetry, Pipenv, pyenv, venv and Conda were all fakers for me

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Package Management Is a Wicked Problem”

27. Doesn't help much because even the standard library bitrots

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Stop Designing Languages. Write Libraries Instead (2016)”

28. venv and Docker don't fix much.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Telnyx v4.87.1 and v4.87.2 are compromised by TeamPCP”

29. 20 variations of venv, etc.

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Bringing uv and ty together”