Pipista

Pipista is a small package manager for Pythonista on iPhone and iPad.

It gives you one simple place to find, install and remove Python packages from PyPI, or download public GitHub projects. It is aimed at people who do not want to set up StaSh or work from a command line.

Pipista is currently a public beta.

Install

Create a new Python file in Pythonista, paste this in and run it once:

from urllib.request import urlopen

url = (
    'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/'
    'jackatttack/Pipista/main/install_pipista.py'
)
source = urlopen(url).read()
exec(compile(source, 'install_pipista.py', 'exec'))

The installer creates a Pipista folder in your Pythonista Documents and opens the main launcher when it is finished.

You can also read install_pipista.py before running it.

Try humanize

Open Pipista, stay on the PyPI tab and choose humanize.

Tap Inspect, then Install. Pipista will show you what it plans to do before changing anything.

You can test the installed package in a separate Pythonista file:

import humanize

number = humanize.intcomma(1234567)
print(number)

This should print 1,234,567.

Humanize is the standard Pipista example because it is pure Python, useful and easy to check without relying on another web service.

Searching PyPI

Pipista can download PyPI's project-name index so you can filter the full list as you type. Press Sync the first time you want this.

Syncing is manual. The list is only refreshed when you press Refresh or Sync again.

You can still enter an exact package name and inspect it without syncing the full list.

GitHub projects

Open the GitHub tab and enter:

owner/repository

You can also paste a public GitHub URL. Pipista downloads the repository as a managed, editable project.

GitHub projects are kept separate from installed Python packages.

Installed items

The Managed view shows packages and projects installed through Pipista and lets you remove them again.

The Environment view shows other modules already available in Pythonista. It is read-only, so Pipista will not remove things it did not install.

Pipista also keeps track of dependencies. It installs them in the order they are needed and will not remove one while another managed package still depends on it.

Where files go

• Pipista: ~/Documents/Pipista
• Pipista data and PyPI index: ~/Documents/.pipista
• GitHub projects: ~/Documents/Pipista Projects
• Python packages: Pythonista's user site-packages

These paths are worked out for the current Pythonista user. They are not tied to the developer's device.

Fullscreen and panel mode

Run Pipista.py for fullscreen mode.

Run Pipista_Panel.py to open Pipista as a Pythonista panel.

A few limits

Pipista is intentionally more cautious than desktop pip.

It works best with pure-Python packages. Packages that need compiled extensions, system tools or unsupported iOS features may not work.

Pipista checks archives, verifies PyPI downloads, avoids overwriting unmanaged files and rolls back dependency installs when something fails. It does not run downloaded build scripts such as setup.py.

It does import a package after installation to check that it works. Importing Python code executes that code, so only install packages and repositories you trust.

Updating Pipista

Run the installation snippet again.

Your existing app is moved into ~/Documents/.pipista/backups before the new copy replaces it. Pipista's package records and PyPI index are kept.

Uninstalling Pipista itself

Delete the ~/Documents/Pipista folder.

If you also want to remove Pipista's saved data and index, delete ~/Documents/.pipista. Packages already installed into site-packages are not removed by deleting the app.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Pipista is an independent community project and is not affiliated with Pythonista, PyPI or the Python Software Foundation.