rootutils
A simple python package to solve all your problems with pythonpath, working directory, file paths, module imports and environment variables.
Why rootutils?
Problem: I would like to be able to:
- Run my python scripts from anywhere
- Always import python modules relatively to the project root directory
- Always access files relatively to the project root so I don't have to specify a series of
../to get to the data - Always have access to environment variables from
.envfile without having to load them manually - Have all the above benefits in notebooks even if they're nested in subdirectories
Solution: The rootutils package provides a flexible way to setup the python project with a simple one-liner. It finds the project root based on the location of specified file name, e.g. .project-root or .git.
The package is tiny and continuosly maintained.
Setup
Usage
# find absolute root path (searches for directory containing .project-root file)
# search starts from current file and recursively goes over parent directories
# returns pathlib object
path = rootutils.find_root(search_from=__file__, indicator=".project-root")
# find absolute root path (searches for directory containing any of the files on the list)
path = rootutils.find_root(search_from=__file__, indicator=[".git", "setup.cfg"])
# take advantage of the pathlib syntax
data_dir = path / "data"
assert data_dir.exists(), f"path doesn't exist: {data_dir}"
# set root directory
rootutils.set_root(
path=path # path to the root directory
project_root_env_var=True, # set the PROJECT_ROOT environment variable to root directory
dotenv=True, # load environment variables from .env if exists in root directory
pythonpath=True, # add root directory to the PYTHONPATH (helps with imports)
cwd=True, # change current working directory to the root directory (helps with filepaths)
)
Simplest usage with one-liner (combines find_root() and set_root() into one method):
root = rootutils.setup_root(__file__, dotenv=True, pythonpath=True, cwd=False)
Defaults
Default root indicators (used when you don't specify indicator arg):
Autoroot
autoroot is an experimental package that reduces rootutils to single import, without the need to execute any setup calls. This means just the act of importing this dependency (import autorootcwd) causes execution of recurrent search for .project-root file.
Installation:
This adds root folder to pythonpath, sets PROJECT_ROOT env var, and loads variables from .env:
This also changes working directory to root:
Autoroot exist for convenience and speed. For example, it's faster to just add import autorootcwd at the beginning when creating new notebook.
Package page: https://github.com/ashleve/autoroot
Inspirations
This package is heavily inspired by:
https://github.com/chendaniely/pyprojroot