use-pixi

Use Pixi

Use Pixi as the command and environment boundary for this repository.

Inspect before editing

1. Run pixi --version, pixi info, and pixi task list when available.
2. Locate both pixi.toml and pyproject.toml. Pixi discovers an explicit --manifest-path first, then a local pixi.toml, then a local pyproject.toml, then parent manifests. A sibling pixi.toml therefore wins over pyproject.toml.
3. Read the selected manifest, its workspace.platforms, targets, features, environments, tasks, and editable path dependencies.
4. Read pixi.lock when reproducibility or CI behavior matters. Do not hand-edit the lockfile.

Choose the dependency owner

• Put Python itself and command-line/system packages supplied by conda-forge under Pixi dependencies.
• Put Python distributions resolved from PyPI under pypi-dependencies or [project.dependencies], according to the repository's existing ownership boundary.
• Represent a local Python project as { path = ".", editable = true } or another relative editable path in Pixi.
• Use target.<platform> for dependencies limited to one supported platform.
• Use a feature when a dependency set is optional and reusable; compose features into named environments.
• Do not use bare pip install inside a Pixi-managed repository. Use pixi add, a manifest edit, and a new lock instead.

Understand the model

• A workspace declares channels and every platform solved into pixi.lock.
• A target narrows configuration to a platform such as linux-64, win-64, or osx-arm64.
• A feature groups optional dependencies, tasks, activation, and targets.
• An environment selects features and produces an installable prefix under .pixi/envs/ by default; named or detached configuration may select another prefix.
• A task is a reproducible command executed inside an environment.
• The lockfile records exact conda and PyPI resolutions for every declared platform.

Make and verify changes

Use the smallest applicable commands: