# pypa/virtualenv

Virtual Python Environment builder

Repository: https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/virtualenv
Homepage: https://virtualenv.pypa.io
Language: Python
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: python, library, virtualenv, pypa, jython, cython, pypy, pypy3, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-25T05:37:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5659, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 8, "gap_med": 7.0, "n_releases_24m": 55}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5042, forks 1114 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:08.798034+00:00)

## What it is
virtualenv is a tool for creating isolated virtual Python environments, allowing projects to have their own dependencies independent of the system Python. It is the reference implementation maintained by the Python Packaging Authority (PyPA).

## Use cases
- create isolated python environments
- install project dependencies without polluting system python
- manage multiple python versions per project
- reproducible development environments
- separate dependency sets for different projects

## When to choose
- you need environment isolation for Python projects
- you want a mature, PyPA-maintained tool with broad interpreter support (CPython, PyPy)
- you need faster environment creation than the built-in venv module

## When to avoid
- you only need basic isolation and are fine with Python's built-in venv module
- you want full project/dependency management with lockfiles - consider poetry or uv instead
- you are managing non-Python language environments

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: developer-tools, cli, package-manager, configuration-management
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: virtual-environments, python-environments, dependency-isolation, venv, command-line, python

## Member repositories
- pypa/virtualenv (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:08.798034+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:17:24.028492+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:08.798034+00:00, sha 1922fbbe4715)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/virtualenv/json (fetched 2026-08-29T08:58:24.115957+00:00, sha b9ac3d54145c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.