Chainguard Libraries for Python overview
Learn about Chainguard Libraries for Python, providing enhanced security for PyPI packages through automated …
For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt.
The configuration for the use of Chainguard Libraries depends on how you’ve set up your build tools and CI/CD workflows. At a high level, adopting the use of Chainguard Libraries in your development, build, and deployment workflows involves the following steps:
These changes must be performed on all workstations of individual developers and other engineers running relevant application builds. They must also be performed on any build tool such as Jenkins, TeamCity, GitHub Actions, or other infrastructure that draws in dependencies.
See the minimal example projects on this page for demonstrations using uv and pip.
To configure any build tool, you must first access credentials from your organization’s repository manager or for direct access.
The following steps allow you to determine the URL and authentication details for accessing your organization’s Cloudsmith repository manager.
https://dl.cloudsmith.io/.../exampleorg/python-all/python/simple/. In the
URL ... is replaced with a default token or your personal token depending
on your selection and exampleorg is replaced with the name of your
organization. The URL contains both the name of the repository python-all
as well as python as an identifier for the format.https://username:{{apiKey}}@dl.cloudsmith.io/basic/exampleorg/python-all/python/simple/.
Replace username and exampleorg with your Cloudsmith details and replace
{{apiKey}} with the API key from the Personal API Keys section from the
drop down on your username.Note that for use with build tools you must include the simple/ context so that
the package index is used successfully.
Use the Google Cloud Artifact Registry documentation to authenticate to your Python Artifact Registry.
The following steps allow you to determine the identity token and URL for accessing your organization’s JFrog Artifactory repository manager.
https://exampleorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/python-all with
exampleorg. Note that for use with build tools you must append simple/ to
the URL so that the package index is used successfully -
https://exampleorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/python-all/simple/.The following steps allow you to determine the URL and authentication details for accessing your organization’s Sonatype Nexus repository group.
https://repo.example.com/repository/python-all/. Note that for use with
build tools you must append simple/ to the URL so that the package index is
used successfully - https://repo.example.com/repository/python-all/simple/.The build configuration to retrieve artifacts directly from the Chainguard Libraries for Python repositories requires authentication with username and password from a pull token as detailed in access documentation.
Note that there are multiple repositories:
https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/ with the simple index at https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simplehttps://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated with the simple index at https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simpleConfiguration for multiple index use and authentication varies for each packaging tool. Typically Python tools include support for .netrc.
See examples using uv and pip under Minimal example projects.
Once you have credentials and the index URL from your organization’s repository manager, you’re ready to set up specific build tools for local development or CI/CD.
pip, uv, poetry, and other Python build and packaging tools have dedicated support for configuring authentication to the repository manager or the Chainguard Libraries for Python directly. As an alternative that works across tools and is often preferred, use .netrc for authentication.
The pip tool is the most widely used utility
for installing Python packages. In this section, we use the credentials from
your organization’s repository manager to configure pip to ingest dependencies
from Chainguard Libraries.
First, clear your local pip cache to ensure that packages are sourced
from Chainguard Libraries for Python:
pip cache purgeTo update pip to use our repository manager’s URL globally, create or edit
your ~/.pip/pip.conf file. You may need to create the ~/.pip folder as
well. For example:
mkdir -p ~/.pip
nano ~/.pip/pip.confUpdate this configuration file with the following, replacing <repository-url>
with the URL provided by your repository manager including the simple/
context:
[global]
index-url = <repository-url>Updating this global configuration affects all projects built on the
workstation. Alternately, if your project uses a requirements.txt file in
projects, you can add the following to it to configure on a project-by-project
basis:
--index-url <repository-url>
package-name==versionNote the different syntax for index-url in the two files.
Refer to the official documentation for configuring authentication with pip if you are not using .netrc for authentication.
When using direct access to the Chainguard Libraries for
Python repository with pip, you must ensure the following are set in your
configuration file:
/ in the username value CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME with _.simple context is used for the URL.CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD remains unchanged.Example for requirements.txt:
--index-url https://CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME:CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD@libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/Example for ~/.pip/pip.conf:
[global]
index-url = https://CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME:CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD@libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/Note that pip supports installing Python libraries from one main repository
URL specified with index-url and one or more additional repositories specified
with extra-index-url without any specific prioritization beyond resolving
semantic versions. The following example uses authentication from a local
.netrc file and places the remediated repository first as the primary source,
falling back to the standard Chainguard Libraries repository when a remediated
version is not available:
--index-url https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple/
--extra-index-url https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/If you are using pip and prefer to pull from multiple repositories while
prioritizing Chainguard Libraries for Python, we recommend using a repository
manager. Alternatively, other Python package managers, detailed in the following
sections, provide support for index priority resolution behavior.
See a demonstration using pip under Minimal example projects.
Poetry helps you declare, manage, and install dependencies of Python projects, and can be used with Chainguard Libraries for Python."
List the Python package caches used by your Poetry project:
poetry cache listThe following commands clear the default cache, the cache for a repository named
pypi, and the cache of packages of the repo python-all from your repository
manager as configured in the global
configuration:
poetry cache clear --all _default_cache
poetry cache clear --all pypi
poetry cache clear --all python-allSet up HTTP authentication to the repository python-all on your repository
manager with the username example and the password secret in your project
directory:
poetry config http-basic.python-all example secretThe authentication is used for the python-all repository that you add to the
pyproject.toml with the following command:
poetry source add python-all https://repo.example.com/../python-all/simple/Example URLs including the required simple context:
https://example.jfrog.io/artifactory/api/pypi/python-all/simple/https://repo.example.com:8443/repository/python-all/simple/The following configuration is added:
[[tool.poetry.source]]
name = "python-all"
url = "https://repo.example.com/../python-all/simple/"
priority = "primary"Trigger a new download of the dependencies:
poetry installIf necessary, you can fix or even regenerate your poetry.lock file:
poetry lock
poetry lock --regenerateProceed to build your project:
poetry buildFor direct access to Chainguard Libraries for Python with
Poetry, use your username CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME and password
CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD values from the pull token creation and the URL with the
simple context https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/:
In order to install Python libraries from multiple repositories with Chainguard
Libraries for Python as the priority, poetry supports setting a primary
package
source. You
can use this to configure Chainguard Libraries for Python as the first choice
for any library access, remediated packages from Chainguard as another choices
and a fallback to the PyPI public index for any missing packages:
poetry config http-basic.chainguard CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORDThe authentication is used for the chainguard repository that you add to the
pyproject.toml with the following command:
poetry source add --priority=primary chainguard https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/Optionally, add the remediated Python libraries as supplemental source:
poetry source add chainguard-remediated https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple/If you require a fallback to PyPI, you can add it as supplemental source:
poetry source add PyPIAlternatively, edit the pyproject.toml file directly:
[[tool.poetry.source]]
name = "chainguard"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple"
priority = "primary"
[[tool.poetry.source]]
name = "chainguard-remediated"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple"
[[tool.poetry.source]]
name = "PyPI"The Poetry documentation contains more information about your project build, dependencies, versions, and other aspects.
uv is a fast Python package and project manager written in Rust. It uses PyPI by default, but also supports the use of alternative package indexes.
To update your global configuration to use your organization’s repository
manager with uv, create or edit the ~/.config/uv/uv.toml configuration file.
You may also need to create the ~/.config/uv/ folder first. For example:
mkdir -p ~/.config/uv
nano ~/.config/uv/uv.tomlAdd the following to your uv global configuration file:
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "<repository-manager-name>"
url = "<repository-url>"Add the name for your repository, such as corppypi, within the quotes.
Replace the <repository-url> with the URL provided by your repository manager
including the simple/ context.
Note that updating the global configuration affects all projects built on the
workstation. Alternately, you can update each project by adding the same
configuration in pyproject.toml.
Refer to the official documentation for configuring authentication with uv and using alternative package indexes if you are not using .netrc for authentication.
For direct access to Chainguard Libraries for Python with
uv, use .netrc or your username CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME and password
CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD values from the pull token creation and the URL with the
simple context https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/:
Example for pyproject.toml:
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "chainguard"
url = "https://CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME:CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD@libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/"
default = trueExample for uv.toml:
[[index]]
url = "https://CG_PULLTOKEN_USERNAME:CG_PULLTOKEN_PASSWORD@libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/"See a demonstration using uv under Minimal example projects.
In order to install Python libraries from multiple repositories with Chainguard
Libraries for Python as the priority, uv supports searching across multiple
indexes.
You can use this to configure Chainguard Libraries for Python as the first
choice for any library access, with a fallback to the PyPI public index. In
addition, if you are consuming from our remediated Python libraries index, we
recommend setting the index-strategy
setting to
unsafe-best-match. This ensures that index resolution continues to work when
remediated libraries have dependencies on non-remediated libraries.
Example pyproject.toml index setup for direct access to remediated and default
packages with netrc-based authentication and lowest priority fallback to PyPI.
Note that the order of the entries in the configuration file is significant and
determines the order for resolving dependencies:
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "cgr-pr"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple"
authenticate = "always"
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "cgr-p"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple"
authenticate = "always"
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "pypi"
url = "https://pypi.org/simple/"
default = true # important to treat it as lowest prioritySet the index strategy to allow fallback from the remediated package index to
the Chainguard index and even PyPI as final fallback in pyproject.toml:
[tool.uv]
index-strategy = "unsafe-best-match"Run a build to observe the resolved packages. For example, the declared
dependency to flask version 2.0.0 results in the use of version 2.0.0+cgr.1.
Use the following steps to create a minimal example project for uv with Chainguard Libraries for Python. For testing purposes, you can use direct access and environment variables as detailed in the access documentation.
1. Configure credentials
Once the environment variables are set, configure credentials in ~/.netrc:
cat >> ~/.netrc << EOF
machine libraries.cgr.dev
login ${CHAINGUARD_PYTHON_IDENTITY_ID}
password ${CHAINGUARD_PYTHON_TOKEN}
EOF
chmod 600 ~/.netrcNote: The
machine libraries.cgr.deventry is shared across ecosystems. Make sure your entry is using a pull token with Python entitlement.
In this example, the global uv index is set to the Chainguard Python repositories
without embedded credentials, allowing uv to authenticate automatically using
.netrc.
Create the global index file ~/.config/uv/uv.toml then open it in a text
editor such as nano:
mkdir -p ~/.config/uv
nano ~/.config/uv/uv.tomlUpdate it to include the remediated and standard Chainguard indexes:
[[index]]
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple/"
authenticate = "always"
[[index]]
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/"
authenticate = "always"2. Initialize a new project
This command creates a new directory, moves to the new directory, then initializes it with uv:
mkdir uv-example && cd $_
uv init3. Edit pyproject.toml
Open pyproject.toml with a text editor, such as nano:
nano pyproject.tomlAdd flask==2.0.0 to the dependencies list in the [project] section, and add the following index configurations for the Python libraries to the end of the file:
[project]
name = "uv-example"
version = "0.1.0"
requires-python = ">=3.9"
dependencies = [
"flask==2.0.0",
]
[tool.uv]
index-strategy = "unsafe-best-match"
# This allows uv to search across multiple indexes to find remediated versions of Python libraries
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "cgr-pr"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python-remediated/simple"
authenticate = "always"
[[tool.uv.index]]
name = "cgr-p"
url = "https://libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple"
authenticate = "always"4. Build the project
Build the project and sync dependencies:
uv syncFollowing this, confirm the patched Chainguard version of flask was resolved:
uv pip list | grep flaskThe output should show flask 2.0.0+cgr.1, confirming the remediated version was installed.
To verify the installed packages were built by Chainguard, use chainctl:
chainctl libraries verify --detailed .venv/A successfully verified project produces output similar to the following:
- flask
Status: Verified as built from source
Details: Version: 2.0.0+cgr.1 (verified via per-package SBOM - built from source by Chainguard)
Python package: flask==2.0.0+cgr.1Use the following steps to create a minimal example project for pip with Chainguard Libraries for Python. For testing purposes, you can use direct access and environment variables as detailed in the access documentation.
1. Update your configuration to point to Chainguard
Once the environment variables are set, update ~/.pip/pip.conf to point to Chainguard Libraries.
You may need to create the ~/.pip directory first:
mkdir -p ~/.pip
nano ~/.pip/pip.confIn ~/.pip/pip.conf, add the following:
[global]
index-url = https://CHAINGUARD_PYTHON_IDENTITY_ID:CHAINGUARD_PYTHON_TOKEN@libraries.cgr.dev/python/simple/Note: Replace any
/in yourCHAINGUARD_PYTHON_IDENTITY_ID’s value with_in the URL. The password value remains unchanged.
2. Create a virtual environment
Create a new directory, navigate to it, and create and activate a virtual environment:
mkdir pip-example && cd $_
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate3. Add and install dependencies
Create a requirements.txt file:
nano requirements.txtIn the requirements.txt file, add the following:
flask==2.0.0Run the following command to install the dependencies:
pip install -r requirements.txtTo verify the installed packages were built by Chainguard, use chainctl:
chainctl libraries verify --detailed .venv/A successfully verified project produces output similar to the following:
Artifact: .venv/
Verification Coverage: 55.56%
Verified packages: 5 of 9
...
- flask
Status: Verified as built from source
Details: Version: 2.0.0 (verified via per-package SBOM - built from source by Chainguard)
Python package: flask==2.0.0Adjust the index URL to use your repository manager and add any other desired packages for further testing.
Last updated: 2025-04-07 14:11