uv: The Fastest Way to Install Python (and Build Projects)

A beginner-friendly guide

Python is an essential tool for anyone building AI apps. Getting it set up, however, can be notoriously painful. In this article, I’ll walk through the simplest (and fastest) way to install Python on your machine and manage your AI projects using a tool called uv.

The tools you don’t need anymore after installing uv. Image by author.

As a tech minimalist, I prefer tried and true defaults over shiny new tools. So when I first heard about uv, it sounded like yet another trendy Python tool to avoid.

However, after being forced to use it once (and voluntarily a few times after), I have now permanently switched my Python tech stack to use it.

Here, I’ll introduce uv, discuss why I made the change, and then walk through how to use it. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to start building AI projects with Python.

What is uv?

To quote their docs, “uv is an extremely fast Python package and project manager” [1]. In other words, you can use it to install Python libraries, manage…