Now showing · a technical tutorial
Install uv, start a project, add and remove packages, lock and sync, run tools and scripts. Seven sections, made with DeckTalk from the script below.
Make one like it
curl -LsSf https://decktalk.ai/install.sh | sh
It installs uv, then DeckTalk, and never runs sudo. Two more lines make a first film, with placeholder narration and no key.
Each ## N. heading is one cut of the film. A [beat] is a short pause and is not spoken. Numbers and symbols are written the way the voice says them.
uv is one program that replaces a whole shelf of Python tools. [beat] It installs packages, it builds virtual environments, it resolves a lockfile, and it installs Python itself. [beat] It is written in Rust, and it keeps one cache for your whole machine, so a wheel you have already downloaded is linked into a new project rather than fetched twice. [beat] That is why a cold install finishes in seconds.
Before any of that, uv has to be on your machine. [beat] Install it with the standalone installer, which needs no Python on the machine first. [beat] On macOS and Linux, pipe the script from astral dot sh into your shell. [beat] On Windows, run the same script through powershell. [beat] Homebrew and pip ex both carry uv as well, and either one is fine. [beat] From then on, uv self update moves you to the newest release.
With uv installed, the next step is a project. [beat] Run uv init and give your project a name. [beat] uv writes four files: a pyproject dot toml that declares the project, a read me, a starter module, and a dot python dash version file that pins the interpreter this project wants. [beat] Nothing is installed yet, and there is no virtual environment yet either. [beat] uv builds one for you the first time you ask it to run something.
An empty project needs packages, so add your first one. [beat] uv add httpx is how a package joins your project. [beat] It resolves the dependency, writes it into pyproject dot toml, updates the lockfile, and installs it into the environment, all in one step. [beat] For a package you need only while developing, name the group, so uv add dash dash group dev pytest records pytest under the dependency groups table. [beat] uv remove takes a package back out, and the lockfile and the environment both follow it.
Every one of those steps touched the lockfile. [beat] uv lock writes a lockfile that pins every package, for every platform your project claims to support. [beat] uv sync then makes your environment match that lockfile exactly, installing what is missing and removing whatever does not belong. [beat] Commit the lockfile, because it is what makes the install reproducible for everybody else. [beat] In continuous integration, pass the frozen flag, so uv installs straight from the lockfile and never resolves it again.
With everything in sync, it is time to run something. [beat] uv run runs a command inside your project's environment, and it syncs before it starts, so what runs is always what the lockfile says. [beat] uvx runs a tool once without installing it anywhere at all. [beat] uv tool install keeps a tool on your path for good. [beat] And a single file script can declare its own dependencies in a comment header at the top, so running it builds an environment just for that file and throws it away afterwards.
So that is uv, and your project fits on one card. [beat] uv init starts it, uv add grows it, uv lock pins it, uv sync matches it, and uv run uses it. [beat] Five commands, one tool. [beat] Go clear the shelf.
Next: how it was made, install DeckTalk, read the quickstart, or watch Halfway, a 38-second pitch made the same way.