pyvista-build

Build a VTK backend wheel for PyVista from source, guided step by step.

uv venv
uvx pyvista-build vtk --install
uv pip install pyvista

pyvista-build BACKEND clones the backend, checks the tools it needs and offers to install the missing ones, configures it with CMake, compiles it, packages the wheel, bundles the libraries it links against, and installs it into the active virtual environment, else .venv in the current directory, else the Python running the command (--python PATH picks another one). It asks once before starting and prints every command as it runs. --interactive asks before each step, --dry-run prints the commands and runs nothing, and --manylinux runs the build inside a manylinux container for a portable Linux wheel.

Each backend describes its build in a pyvista-build.toml manifest at the root of its source tree. A manifest for stock VTK is shipped here, and pyvista-build cvista reads the one in the cvista tree. Any other backend builds with --url <git url> or --source <checkout> when its tree carries a manifest. The manifest reference lists every key.

The package depends on neither vtk nor pyvista, so it runs in an environment that has no VTK yet.

Development

uv sync --group dev
uv run pytest
uv run mypy
uv run pre-commit run --all-files
uv run --group docs sphinx-build -W doc doc/_build/html