PIP-WHEEL(1)

💖 PIP-WHEEL(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the pip-wheel page — it's a real one, from the pip manual, and we're gonna get through it together. grab a snack 🍓

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✨ NAME ✨

pip-wheel — the whole description of the pip wheel command, no notes 💅

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So basically? You're building Wheel archives for your requirements and your dependencies. iconic behaviour.

A Wheel is a built-package format (yes, that's its actual name, not me being cute for once) and the way it eats is that it gives you the advantage of not recompiling your software during every install. literally the glow-up. for more deets, the wheel docs are right here: <https://wheel.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>

and pip wheel uses the build system interface, which is described over here: <https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/build-system/> — go look, i'll wait 🦋

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🌸 USAGE 🌸

here's how you actually call it, all the shapes it comes in:

python -m pip wheel [options] <requirement specifier> ...
python -m pip wheel [options] -r <requirements file> ...
python -m pip wheel [options] [-e] <vcs project url> ...
python -m pip wheel [options] [-e] <local project path> ...
python -m pip wheel [options] <archive url/path> ...

pick your fighter 💖

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

the main character section. every single one, no skipping, periodt.

• -w, --wheel-dir <dir> — builds your wheels into <dir>, and the default is just the current working directory. cozy. (environment variable: PIP_WHEEL_DIR)
• --no-build-isolation — turns off isolation when you're building a modern source distribution. heads up tho: build dependencies specified by PEP 518 must already be installed if you use this one. no cap. (environment variable: PIP_NO_BUILD_ISOLATION)
• --check-build-dependencies — checks the build dependencies. that's the whole job 🫶 (environment variable: PIP_CHECK_BUILD_DEPENDENCIES)
• -c, --constraint <file> — constrains versions using the constraints file you give it. and yes, you can use this option multiple times, stack 'em up. (environment variable: PIP_CONSTRAINT)
• --build-constraint <file> — same energy but for build dependencies: constrain them using the given constraints file. also usable multiple times. (environment variable: PIP_BUILD_CONSTRAINT)
• -e, --editable <path/url> — installs a project in editable mode (i.e. setuptools "develop mode", for the old-school girlies) from a local project path or a VCS url. (environment variable: PIP_EDITABLE)
• -r, --requirement <file> — installs from the requirements file you hand it. multiple times? absolutely, yes. (environment variable: PIP_REQUIREMENT)
• --requirements-from-script <file> — installs the dependencies of the given script file, as defined by PEP 723 inline metadata. futuristic fr fr. (environment variable: PIP_REQUIREMENTS_FROM_SCRIPT)
• --src <dir> — the directory to check out editable projects into. the default in a virtualenv is "<venv path>/src", and the default for global installs is "<current dir>/src". (environment variable: PIP_SRC, PIP_SOURCE, PIP_SOURCE_DIR, PIP_SOURCE_DIRECTORY)
• --ignore-requires-python — ignores the Requires-Python information. look away 💀 (environment variable: PIP_IGNORE_REQUIRES_PYTHON)
• --no-deps — don't install package dependencies. lone wolf energy. (environment variable: PIP_NO_DEPS, PIP_NO_DEPENDENCIES)
• --progress-bar <progress_bar> — specifies whether the progress bar should be used. in 'auto' mode, --quiet will suppress all progress bars. options are [auto, on, off, raw] (default: auto). (environment variable: PIP_PROGRESS_BAR)
• --no-verify — don't verify if the built wheel is valid. living dangerously, love that for you. (environment variable: PIP_NO_VERIFY)
• -C, --config-settings <settings> — configuration settings passed to the build backend. settings take the form KEY=VALUE, and you use multiple --config-settings options to pass multiple keys to the backend. (environment variable: PIP_CONFIG_SETTINGS)
• --require-hashes — requires a hash to check each requirement against, for repeatable installs. this one is implied when any package in a requirements file has a --hash option. sneaky but fair. (environment variable: PIP_REQUIRE_HASHES)
• --group <[path:]group> — installs a named dependency-group from a pyproject.toml file. if a path is given, the name of the file must be pyproject.toml. defaults to using pyproject.toml in the current directory. (environment variable: PIP_GROUP)
• --no-clean — don't clean up build directories. leaving the mess exactly where it is 🫶 (environment variable: PIP_NO_CLEAN)

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💜 Author 💜

the pip developers. legends, honestly.

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🌈 Copyright 🌈

the pip developers again. give them their flowers 💐

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okay that's the whole page, bestie, you ate it 💅✨

and for the cute sign-off: this is version 26.0, dated Aug 26, 2026 — go forth and build those wheels, you absolute icon 👑🦋💖