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# Configuration

pip allows a user to change its behaviour via 3 mechanisms:

- command line options

- environment variables

- configuration files

This page explains how the configuration files and environment variables work, and how they are related to pip’s various command line options.

See also

pip config command, which helps manage pip’s configuration.

## Configuration Files

Configuration files can change the default values for command line options. The files are written using standard INI format.

pip has 3 “levels” of configuration files:

- `global`: system-wide configuration file, shared across users.

- `user`: per-user configuration file.

- `site`: per-environment configuration file; i.e. per-virtualenv.

Additionally, environment variables can be specified which will override any of the above.

### Location

pip’s configuration files are located in fairly standard locations. This location is different on different operating systems, and has some additional complexity for backwards compatibility reasons. Note that if user config files exist in both the legacy and current locations, values in the current file will override values in the legacy file.

Unix

Global

  In a “pip” subdirectory of any of the paths set in the environment variable `XDG_CONFIG_DIRS` (if it exists), for example `/etc/xdg/pip/pip.conf`.

  This will be followed by loading `/etc/pip.conf`.

User

  `$HOME/.config/pip/pip.conf`, which respects the `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` environment variable.

  The legacy “per-user” configuration file is also loaded, if it exists: `$HOME/.pip/pip.conf`.

Site

  `$VIRTUAL_ENV/pip.conf`

MacOS

Global

  `/Library/Application Support/pip/pip.conf`

User

  `$HOME/Library/Application Support/pip/pip.conf` if directory `$HOME/Library/Application Support/pip` exists else `$HOME/.config/pip/pip.conf`

  The legacy “per-user” configuration file is also loaded, if it exists: `$HOME/.pip/pip.conf`.

Site

  `$VIRTUAL_ENV/pip.conf`

Windows

Global

  - On Windows 7 and later: `C:\ProgramData\pip\pip.ini` (hidden but writeable)

  - On Windows Vista: Global configuration is not supported.

  - On Windows XP: `C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\pip\pip.ini`

User

  `%APPDATA%\pip\pip.ini`

  The legacy “per-user” configuration file is also loaded, if it exists: `%HOME%\pip\pip.ini`

Site

  `%VIRTUAL_ENV%\pip.ini`

### `PIP_CONFIG_FILE`

Additionally, the environment variable `PIP_CONFIG_FILE` can be used to specify a configuration file that’s loaded last, and whose values override the values set in the aforementioned files. Setting this to `os.devnull` disables the loading of all configuration files. Note that if a file exists at the location that this is set to, the user config file will not be loaded.

### Loading order

When multiple configuration files are found, pip combines them in the following order:

- Global

- User

- Site

- `PIP_CONFIG_FILE`, if given.

Each file read overrides any values read from previous files, so if the global timeout is specified in both the global file and the per-user file then the latter value will be used.

### Naming

The names of the settings are derived from the long command line option.

As an example, if you want to use a different package index (`--index-url`) and set the HTTP timeout (`--timeout`) to 60 seconds, your config file would look like this:

    [global]
    timeout = 60
    index-url = https://download.zope.org/ppix

### Per-command section

Each subcommand can be configured optionally in its own section. This overrides the global setting with the same name.

As an example, if you want to decrease the `timeout` to `10` seconds when running the pip freeze, and use `60` seconds for all other commands:

    [global]
    timeout = 60

    [freeze]
    timeout = 10

### Boolean options

Boolean options like `--ignore-installed` or `--no-dependencies` can be set like this:

    [install]
    ignore-installed = true
    no-dependencies = yes

To enable the boolean options `--no-compile`, `--no-warn-script-location` and `--no-cache-dir`, falsy values have to be used:

    [global]
    no-cache-dir = false

    [install]
    no-compile = no
    no-warn-script-location = false

### Repeatable options

For options which can be repeated like `--verbose` and `--quiet`, a non-negative integer can be used to represent the level to be specified:

    [global]
    quiet = 0
    verbose = 2

It is possible to append values to a section within a configuration file. This is applicable to appending options like `--find-links` or `--trusted-host`, which can be written on multiple lines:

    [global]
    find-links =
        http://download.example.com

    [install]
    find-links =
        http://mirror1.example.com
        http://mirror2.example.com

    trusted-host =
        mirror1.example.com
        mirror2.example.com

This enables users to add additional values in the order of entry for such command line arguments.

## Environment Variables

pip’s command line options can be set with environment variables using the format `PIP_<UPPER_LONG_NAME>` . Dashes (`-`) have to be replaced with underscores (`_`).

- `PIP_TIMEOUT=60` is the same as `--timeout=60`

-     PIP_FIND_LINKS="http://mirror1.example.com http://mirror2.example.com"

  is the same as

      --find-links=http://mirror1.example.com --find-links=http://mirror2.example.com

Repeatable options that do not take a value (such as `--verbose`) can be specified using the number of repetitions:

- `PIP_VERBOSE=3` is the same as `pip install -vvv`

Note

Environment variables set to an empty string (like with `export X=` on Unix) will not be treated as false. Use `no`, `false` or `0` instead.

## Precedence / Override order

Command line options override environment variables, which override the values in a configuration file. Within the configuration file, values in command-specific sections override values in the global section.

Examples:

- `--host=foo` overrides `PIP_HOST=foo`

- `PIP_HOST=foo` overrides a config file with `[global] host = foo`

- A command specific section in the config file `[<command>] host = bar` overrides the option with same name in the `[global]` config file section.