How to Pip Install From a Git Repo Branch (2024)

To pip install a package from a specific branch of a Git repository, you can follow these steps:

Step 1: Install Git

Make sure Git is installed on your system. You can check if Git is installed by running the following command in your terminal:

git --version

If Git is not installed, you can download and install it from the official Git website: https://git-scm.com/downloads

Related Article: How To Fix The 'No Module Named Pip' Error

Step 2: Clone the Git Repository

Clone the Git repository to your local machine using the git clone command. Open your terminal and navigate to the directory where you want to clone the repository. Then run the following command:

git clone 

Replace with the URL of the Git repository you want to clone. For example:

git clone https://github.com/username/repository.git

This will create a local copy of the repository on your machine.

Step 3: Install the Package

Navigate to the cloned repository directory using the cd command in your terminal:

cd repository

Replace repository with the name of the cloned repository directory.

Once you are inside the repository directory, you can install the package using pip. Run the following command:

pip install .

This will install the package using the setup.py file located in the repository directory. The package will be installed globally on your system.

Step 4: Install from a Specific Branch

If you want to install the package from a specific branch of the Git repository, you can switch to that branch before running the pip install command.

To switch to a specific branch, use the following command:

git checkout 

Replace with the name of the branch you want to install from.

After switching to the desired branch, you can run the pip install command again to install the package from that branch.

Related Article: How to Force Pip to Reinstall the Current Version in Python

Step 5: Update the Package

If you want to update the installed package to the latest version available in the repository, you can pull the latest changes from the Git repository and then run the pip install command again.

To pull the latest changes from the repository, use the following command:

git pull

This will fetch the latest changes from the remote repository and merge them with your local copy.

After pulling the latest changes, you can run the pip install command again to update the package.

Best Practices

When installing packages from a Git repository, it is recommended to create a virtual environment for your project. Virtual environments provide a clean and isolated environment for your project’s dependencies.

Here are the steps to create and activate a virtual environment using virtualenv:

1. Install virtualenv using pip:

pip install virtualenv

2. Create a virtual environment:

virtualenv venv

Replace venv with the desired name for your virtual environment.

3. Activate the virtual environment:

For Windows:

venv\Scripts\activate

For Linux/Mac:

source venv/bin/activate

4. Once the virtual environment is activated, you can follow the previously mentioned steps to clone the repository and install the package.

Using a virtual environment ensures that the installed package and its dependencies are isolated from the system-wide Python installation.

Alternative: Using Git URLs in pip install

As an alternative, you can directly specify the Git repository URL in the pip install command without cloning the repository manually.

To install a package from a specific branch, you can use the following command:

pip install git+@

Replace with the URL of the Git repository and with the name of the branch you want to install from.

For example:

pip install git+https://github.com/username/repository.git@branch_name

This will install the package directly from the specified branch of the Git repository.

Using this method, you don’t need to clone the repository manually. However, keep in mind that it may not work for private repositories that require authentication.