Run `uv sync` without creating venv (similar to poetry config) (I believe `uv pip` has functionality like that)

[adiberk]

Our current Dockerfile install command with poetry - we can disable venv creation poetry config virtualenvs.create false...

It would be nice to be able to run uv sync with a similar command uv sync --no-venv or something. This way we don't have to change how our app is built and run, as well as commands that get run when exec into docker As of now using a venv in our Dockerfile causes too much of a headache (at least from what i can tell)

[charliermarsh]

Not yet but we're likely to support it soon.

[mike-taylor-nomihealth]

Just wanted to add some support for this use case - we would love to use uv sync to install at the system level so we don't have to do it separately and get the advantage of a uv sync layer in the docker build (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/guides/integration/docker/#intermediate-layers) and more consistency between our production and dev builds in docker - the uv run use case is great for a local install that doesn't conflate itself with my system packages, but it makes it more troublesome when trying to install into a container since then we have to do something like uv run pip install --system -r pyproject.toml instead of something like a uv sync --lock --system directly.

It's not that we don't trust you guys to build cool stuff, it's just adding a layer of abstraction to our containers by running uv run <command> doesn't really make sense to add the risk of a uv bug impacting production when we could potentially use it more directly to get similar benefits in our container builds.

It seems like we can do someting similar with the system layer with the uv pip install -r as an intermediary build instead though, so this might just be my ignorance on why we would/woudln't want to support using the uv sync to manage system packages and not just the venv ones

[leddy231]

We need this as well coming from a similar poetry setup.

But perhaps it should not be a functionallity of uv sync, as it is designed to work with virtual envs and add / remove packages to match the lockfiles.

Would it make more sense to allow uv pip install to be able to read uv.lock files? Then the command would be uv pip install -r uv.lock --system With an optional uv lock --locked to make sure the lockfile is up to date.

This would also allow installing multiple projects in the same system python without it uninstalling previous packages (which im guessing uv sync would do?). This is also something we need, becuse we still have just a single dockerfile for our multiple projects :sweat_smile:

Edit discussion for that here #6670

[zanieb]

@mike-taylor-nomihealth Does the example at https://github.com/astral-sh/uv-docker-example and the latest Docker guide (just updated now) help? We have support for intermediate layers and it's a one-line change to avoid using uv run. No need to use uv pip.

we would love to use uv sync to install at the system level so we don't have to do it separately

Can you clarify how system level syncing would improve layer caching?

This would also allow installing multiple projects in the same system python without it uninstalling previous packages (which im guessing uv sync would do?).

Sorry, but this is a use-case I don't think uv sync should support — if you need to install multiple projects side-by-side you need to use workspaces and a single lockfile otherwise you're throwing out all of the guarantees that the project interface is built on.

[leddy231]

Sorry, but this is a use-case I don't think uv sync should support — if you need to install multiple projects side-by-side you need to use workspaces and a single lockfile otherwise you're throwing out all of the guarantees that the project interface is built on.

Yes thats what i meant, uv sync should not be able to do that, but raw uv pip install should (and yes it would not be good practice, but sometimes needed)

[adiberk]

Right, so I guess just having the ability to run uv pip install —lock or something would work as well. Assuming it basically installs and resolves dependencies in the same way as uv sync (except that you can specify system etc.). It does seem that uv sync isn’t meant to allow system install, which I hear.

As of now I have been able to get around it by creating a venv in a different workdir and then setting that venv in system path.

[xymz]

FYI, In some cases(especially on CI), I also need something like uv sync --system or uv pip install -r pyproject.toml --system --with-dev. There is a workaround for last one(https://stackoverflow.com/a/78902981) but I think it is not follow uv standard. And it is not cool add some extra dependencies for CI(of course, It is could be meaningful if there is a difference) because it's redundant.

Yes, it's clear that we need a consistent option for using uv without virtualenv in special cases. Or we'll always have to spend time finding workarounds for every edge case.

[zanieb]

This is supported now via #6834

[xymz]

@zanieb Nice and cool. Thanks for your considerate work.