PIP-DOWNLOAD(1)

💖 NAME 💖

Bestie, this is pip-download(1) — literally the description of the pip download command. No cap, that's the whole NAME section. 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Okay so pip download downloads packages from:

• PyPI (and other indexes) using requirement specifiers.
• VCS project urls.
• Local project directories.
• Local or remote source archives.

pip also supports downloading from "requirements files", which provide an easy way to specify a whole environment to be downloaded. Iconic behavior, honestly. 🎀

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🛠️ USAGE 🛠️

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

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🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

Every flag, every crumb, none skipped. Let's go, bestie 🫶

• -c, --constraint <file> — Constrain versions using the given constraints file. This option can be used multiple times.
• -r, --requirement <file> — Install from the given requirements file. This option can be used multiple times.
• --no-deps — Don't install package dependencies.
• --global-option <options> — Extra global options to be supplied to the setup.py call before the install or bdist_wheel command.
• --no-binary <format_control> — Do not use binary packages. Can be supplied multiple times, and each time adds to the existing value. Accepts either :all: to disable all binary packages, :none: to empty the set (notice the colons), or one or more package names with commas between them (no colons).

Heads up, bestie: some packages are tricky to compile and may fail to install when this option is used on them. 😭

• --only-binary <format_control> — Do not use source packages. Can be supplied multiple times, and each time adds to the existing value. Accepts either :all: to disable all source packages, :none: to empty the set, or one or more package names with commas between them.

Also important: packages without binary distributions will fail to install when this option is used on them.

• --prefer-binary — Prefer older binary packages over newer source packages.
• --src <dir> — Directory to check out editable projects into. The default in a virtualenv is <venv path>/src. The default for global installs is <current dir>/src.
• --pre — Include pre-release and development versions. By default, pip only finds stable versions.
• --require-hashes — Require a hash to check each requirement against, for repeatable installs. This option is implied when any package in a requirements file has a --hash option.
• --progress-bar <progress_bar> — Specify whether the progress bar should be used [on, off] (default: on)
• --no-build-isolation — Disable isolation when building a modern source distribution. Build dependencies specified by PEP 518 must be already installed if this option is used.
• --use-pep517 — Use PEP 517 for building source distributions (use --no-use-pep517 to force legacy behaviour).
• --check-build-dependencies — Check the build dependencies when PEP517 is used.
• --ignore-requires-python — Ignore the Requires-Python information.
• -d, --dest <dir> — Download packages into <dir>.
• --platform <platform> — Only use wheels compatible with <platform>. Defaults to the platform of the running system. Use this option multiple times to specify multiple platforms supported by the target interpreter.
• --python-version <python_version> — The Python interpreter version to use for wheel and "Requires-Python" compatibility checks. Defaults to a version derived from the running interpreter. The version can be specified using up to three dot-separated integers (e.g. "3" for 3.0.0, "3.7" for 3.7.0, or "3.7.3"). A major-minor version can also be given as a string without dots (e.g. "37" for 3.7.0).
• --implementation <implementation> — Only use wheels compatible with Python implementation <implementation>, e.g. 'pp', 'jy', 'cp', or 'ip'. If not specified, then the current interpreter implementation is used. Use 'py' to force implementation-agnostic wheels.
• --abi <abi> — Only use wheels compatible with Python abi <abi>, e.g. 'pypy_41'. If not specified, then the current interpreter abi tag is used. Use this option multiple times to specify multiple abis supported by the target interpreter. Generally you will need to specify --implementation, --platform, and --python-version when using this option.
• --no-clean — Don't clean up build directories.

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

pip developers — that's the author, periodt. 👑

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🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

The pip developers — that's the copyright line, bestie. 🫶

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pip 22.3 · Jun 25, 2025 — that's the version + date footer vibe. Mwah, go download cute things 💋🌸