dependeless 0.1.2

A tool to show which pip packages are not depended on by any other package

Dependeless

A tiny CLI tool to find installed pip packages that nothing depends on.

Perfect for cleaning up cluttered Python environments.

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🤔 Why?

Over time, Python environments get messy:

• You install packages to try things out
• Dependencies change
• Projects get deleted

And suddenly you have dozens of packages… with no idea which are still needed.

Dependeless helps you identify packages that are likely safe to remove.

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⚠️ Important

Dependeless does NOT check if a package is used in your code.

It only finds packages that:

are not required by any other installed package

This means:

• ✅ Good for finding leftover dependencies
• ❌ Not guaranteed safe to uninstall

👉 Always review results before removing anything.

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📦 Installation

pip install dependeless

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🚀 Usage

Run inside your virtual environment:

dependeless

Or specify a custom pip:

dependeless --pip-path /path/to/pip

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🧾 Example output

Using pip at /usr/bin/pip
Scanning 42 packages...

Non-dependent packages:
requests
numpy
pytest

Suggested cleanup command:

pip-autoremove -y requests numpy pytest

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🙈 Ignoring packages

By default, pip and dependeless are ignored.

You can exclude additional packages:

dependeless --ignore "pip, setuptools, my_package"

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🧠 How it works

Dependeless runs:

• pip list to get installed packages
• pip show <package> to inspect each package

It then checks the Required-by field:

• empty → no packages depend on it
• non-empty → used as a dependency

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⏱ Performance

Dependeless calls pip show for every package.

This means:

• 🐢 Can be slow in large environments
• ⚡ Works best in smaller or moderately sized environments

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✅ When is this useful?

• Cleaning up old virtual environments
• Investigating bloated global installs
• Debugging dependency issues
• After lots of pip install / experimentation

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🚫 When NOT to use this

• As a replacement for dependency management tools like:

  • Poetry
  • Pipenv

• To detect unused imports in your code

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💡 Tip

For a clean workflow, combine Dependeless with:

• fresh virtual environments (venv)
• pinned dependencies (requirements.txt)