Installation

As tool

tox is a CLI tool that needs a Python interpreter (version 3.10 or higher) to run. We recommend either pipx or uv to install tox into an isolated environment. This has the added benefit that later you’ll be able to upgrade tox without affecting other parts of the system. We provide method for pip too here but we discourage that path if you can:

# install uv per https://docs.astral.sh/uv/#getting-started
uv tool install tox
tox --help

python -m pip install pipx-in-pipx --user
pipx install tox
tox --help

python -m pip install --user tox
python -m tox --help

You can install it within the global Python interpreter itself (perhaps as a user package via the --user flag). Be cautious if you are using a Python installation that is managed by your operating system or another package manager. pip might not coordinate with those tools, and may leave your system in an inconsistent state.

Requirements:

  • wheel (default): Installing tox via a wheel requires pip that understands the python-requires tag (see PEP 503). With pip this is version 9.0.0 or later (released November 2016). If installing from a mirror, ensure it forwards the python-requires tag (notably OpenStack mirrors don’t, and older devpi/devpi versions before 4.7.0 don’t).

  • sdist: When installing via a source distribution you need pip that handles PEP 517. With pip this is version 18.0.0 or later (released July 2018). If you cannot upgrade pip, ensure the build requirements from pyproject.toml are satisfied before installation.

latest unreleased

Installing an unreleased version is discouraged and should be only done for testing purposes:

uv tool install --from git+https://github.com/tox-dev/tox.git@main tox

pipx install git+https://github.com/tox-dev/tox.git@main

pip install git+https://github.com/tox-dev/tox.git@main

Requires pip version 18.0.0 or later.

For Python version compatibility, see System requirements.

Man Page Support

tox includes a Unix man page that is automatically built when building documentation. The man page provides comprehensive reference documentation for all tox commands and options.

Automatic Installation

The man page is pre-built and included in tox wheels. When installing tox:

  • System-wide (sudo pip install tox): Installs to /usr/share/man/man1/tox.1 automatically

  • User install (pip install --user tox): Installs to ~/.local/share/man/man1/tox.1 automatically

  • Package managers (apt, brew, dnf): Install to the appropriate system location

For user installs, ensure ~/.local/share/man is in your MANPATH:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export MANPATH="$HOME/.local/share/man:$MANPATH"

After updating your profile, restart your shell or run source ~/.bashrc.

Virtualenv Installations

When tox is installed in a virtualenv (via pipx, uv tool, or venv), the man page is installed but not on the system MANPATH. Use the tox man command to set it up automatically:

tox man

This command will:

  • Check if the man page is accessible

  • Create a symlink from the virtualenv to ~/.local/share/man/man1/

  • Detect your shell and provide instructions for adding MANPATH to your profile

Alternatively, you can set it up manually:

# Find where tox is installed
TOX_PREFIX=$(python -c "import sys; print(sys.prefix)")

# Create symlink to user man directory
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/man/man1
ln -sf "$TOX_PREFIX/share/man/man1/tox.1" ~/.local/share/man/man1/tox.1

# Ensure MANPATH includes user directory (if not already set)
export MANPATH="$HOME/.local/share/man:$MANPATH"

Building from Source

Package maintainers building from source can generate the man page using Sphinx:

# Build documentation (includes man page)
tox run -e docs

# Man page is generated at .tox/docs_out/man/tox.1
# Install to system location
install -D -m 644 .tox/docs_out/man/tox.1 /usr/share/man/man1/tox.1
gzip -9 /usr/share/man/man1/tox.1

Viewing the Man Page

After installation:

man tox

For virtualenv-based installations where the man page is not on MANPATH, use tox --help instead.