Introduction

Many Python projects depend on other, related packages. Sometimes you need to work on one of those dependencies at the same time as the project that consumes it: fixing a bug upstream while you are in the middle of using it downstream.

The usual fix is to point [tool.uv.sources] at a local, editable checkout of the dependency while you work:

[tool.uv.sources]
my-dependency = { path = "../my-dependency", editable = true }

That works, but it is easy to forget to undo it. If a local path override slips into a commit, uv.lock resolves against it, and CI has no idea what ../my-dependency is supposed to be – the build breaks on any machine that does not have your local checkout. uv has no built-in workflow for “temporarily go editable, then guarantee I did not commit that.”

What uv-developer does

uv-developer manages that workflow for you:

• uv-developer toggle flips every local-path entry under [tool.uv.sources] between commented (off) and active (on) in one command, optionally cloning the dependency first if it is not checked out yet.

• uv-developer show reports the current state of every entry without changing anything.

• uv-developer check fails (for CI or a pre-commit hook) if a local or editable path ever makes it into uv.lock, so an override left active by accident is caught before it is merged.

How it recognizes an entry

uv-developer does not run a full TOML parser against [tool.uv.sources]; it edits it as text, line by line, so the file keeps its comments and formatting. An entry’s leading # characters are what encode its state:

Prefix	Meaning
none	active: uv resolves this package from the local path
#	off: a normal, togglable entry
##	pinned off: toggle on always skips it

A # git clone ... comment placed directly above an entry lets toggle on clone the dependency automatically the first time, if the local path does not exist yet. See Usage for how pinning and cloning work in full.

See Installation to add uv-developer to a project, and Usage for the full command reference.