setup-uv/docs/environment-and-tools.md

# Environment and Tools

This document covers environment activation, tool directory configuration, and authentication options.

## Activate environment

You can set `activate-environment` to `true` to automatically activate a venv.
This allows directly using it in later steps:

```yaml
- name: Install the latest version of uv and activate the environment
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    activate-environment: true
- run: uv pip install pip
```

By default, the venv is created at `.venv` inside the `working-directory`.

You can customize the venv location with `venv-path`, for example to place it in the runner temp directory:

```yaml
- uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    activate-environment: true
    venv-path: ${{ runner.temp }}/custom-venv
```

> [!WARNING]
>
> Activating the environment adds your dependencies to the `PATH`, which could break some workflows.
> For example, if you have a dependency which requires uv, e.g., `hatch`, activating the
> environment will shadow the `uv` binary installed by this action and may result in a different uv
> version being used.
>
> We do not recommend using this setting for most use-cases. Instead, use `uv run` to execute
> commands in the environment.

## GitHub authentication token

By default, this action resolves available uv versions from
[`astral-sh/versions`](https://github.com/astral-sh/versions), then downloads uv artifacts from
GitHub Releases.

You can provide a token via `github-token` to authenticate those downloads. By default, the
`GITHUB_TOKEN` secret is used, which is automatically provided by GitHub Actions.

If the default
[permissions for the GitHub token](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-for-github-actions/security-guides/automatic-token-authentication#permissions-for-the-github_token)
are not sufficient, you can provide a custom GitHub token with the necessary permissions.

```yaml
- name: Install the latest version of uv with a custom GitHub token
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    github-token: ${{ secrets.CUSTOM_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
```

## UV_TOOL_DIR

On Windows `UV_TOOL_DIR` is set to `uv-tool-dir` in the `TMP` dir (e.g. `D:\a\_temp\uv-tool-dir`).
On GitHub hosted runners this is on the much faster `D:` drive.

On all other platforms the tool environments are placed in the
[default location](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/concepts/tools/#tools-directory).

If you want to change this behaviour (especially on self-hosted runners) you can use the `tool-dir`
input:

```yaml
- name: Install the latest version of uv with a custom tool dir
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    tool-dir: "/path/to/tool/dir"
```

## UV_TOOL_BIN_DIR

On Windows `UV_TOOL_BIN_DIR` is set to `uv-tool-bin-dir` in the `TMP` dir (e.g.
`D:\a\_temp\uv-tool-bin-dir`). On GitHub hosted runners this is on the much faster `D:` drive. This
path is also automatically added to the PATH.

On all other platforms the tool binaries get installed to the
[default location](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/concepts/tools/#the-bin-directory).

If you want to change this behaviour (especially on self-hosted runners) you can use the
`tool-bin-dir` input:

```yaml
- name: Install the latest version of uv with a custom tool bin dir
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    tool-bin-dir: "/path/to/tool-bin/dir"
```

## Tilde Expansion

This action supports expanding the `~` character to the user's home directory for the following inputs:

- `version-file`
- `cache-local-path`
- `tool-dir`
- `tool-bin-dir`
- `cache-dependency-glob`

```yaml
- name: Expand the tilde character
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    cache-local-path: "~/path/to/cache"
    tool-dir: "~/path/to/tool/dir"
    tool-bin-dir: "~/path/to/tool-bin/dir"
    cache-dependency-glob: "~/my-cache-buster"
```

## Ignore empty workdir

By default, the action will warn if the workdir is empty, because this is usually the case when
`actions/checkout` is configured to run after `setup-uv`, which is not supported.

If you want to ignore this, set the `ignore-empty-workdir` input to `true`.

```yaml
- name: Ignore empty workdir
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    ignore-empty-workdir: true
```

## Environment Variables

This action sets several environment variables that influence uv's behavior and can be used by subsequent steps:

- `UV_PYTHON`: Set when `python-version` input is specified. Controls which Python version uv uses.
- `UV_CACHE_DIR`: Set when caching is enabled (unless already configured in uv config files). Controls where uv stores its cache.
- `UV_TOOL_DIR`: Set when `tool-dir` input is specified. Controls where uv installs tool environments.
- `UV_TOOL_BIN_DIR`: Set when `tool-bin-dir` input is specified. Controls where uv installs tool binaries.
- `UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR`: Always set. Controls where uv installs Python versions.
- `VIRTUAL_ENV`: Set when `activate-environment` is true. Points to the activated virtual environment.

**Environment variables that affect the action behavior:**

- `UV_NO_MODIFY_PATH`: If set, prevents the action from modifying PATH. Cannot be used with `activate-environment`.
- `UV_CACHE_DIR`: If already set, the action will respect it instead of setting its own cache directory.

```yaml
- name: Example using environment variables
  uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
  with:
    python-version: "3.12"
    tool-dir: "/custom/tool/dir"
    enable-cache: true

- name: Check environment variables
  run: |
    echo "UV_PYTHON: $UV_PYTHON"
    echo "UV_CACHE_DIR: $UV_CACHE_DIR"
    echo "UV_TOOL_DIR: $UV_TOOL_DIR"
    echo "UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR: $UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR"
```