Install psutil¶

Linux, Windows, macOS (wheels)¶

Prebuilt wheels are distributed for these platforms, so a C compiler is not required. Install psutil with:

pip install psutil

Inside a virtual environment you can also use uv:

uv pip install psutil

If no wheel is available for your platform or architecture, pip will build psutil from source (see below).

Build psutil from source¶

Building psutil from source requires a C compiler and the Python development headers. On Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Solaris, the install-sysdeps.sh script can install them for you:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/giampaolo/psutil/master/scripts/internal/install-sysdeps.sh | sh

Alternatively, install them manually as described below.

Linux¶

Debian / Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install gcc python3-dev

Red Hat / CentOS:

sudo yum install gcc python3-devel

Fedora:

sudo dnf install gcc python3-devel

Arch:

sudo pacman -S gcc python

Alpine:

sudo apk add gcc python3-dev musl-dev linux-headers

Windows¶

To build psutil from source, install Microsoft C++ Build Tools with the Desktop development with C++ option selected.
MinGW is not supported.
To clone psutil’s Git repository and build or develop it locally, first install Git for Windows and GNU Make. To install GNU Make, open PowerShell and run:
```
winget install --exact --id ezwinports.make
```
Close and reopen Git Bash, then follow Build and install.

macOS¶

Install the Xcode command line tools:

xcode-select --install

FreeBSD¶

pkg install python3

OpenBSD¶

export PKG_PATH=https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/`uname -r`/packages/`uname -m`/
pkg_add -v python%3

NetBSD¶

pkgsrc has no version-agnostic python3 package, so choose one of the available Python 3 versions. For example:

export PKG_PATH="https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/pkgsrc/packages/NetBSD/`uname -m`/`uname -r`/All"
pkg_add -v pkgin
pkgin update
pkgin install python314

Solaris¶

pkg install developer/gcc

If cc is unavailable, set CC=gcc when running the commands in Build and install.

AIX¶

install-sysdeps.sh has no AIX branch. Install a C compiler and the Python development headers from the AIX Toolbox.

Build and install¶

To build and install psutil from a Git checkout:

git clone https://github.com/giampaolo/psutil.git
cd psutil
make install-sysdeps
make build
make install

Note

By default C source files are compiled in parallel, one job per CPU, which makes building from source 2x to 3.6x faster. Use PSUTIL_BUILD_JOBS to change the number of jobs.

Troubleshooting¶

Install pip¶

Python installations normally include pip. If it is missing, first try:

python3 -m ensurepip --upgrade

Some OS-packaged Python installations do not include ensurepip. There, either install the pip package or download get-pip.py and run:

python3 get-pip.py

Permission errors¶

If you encounter permission errors, install psutil inside a virtual environment instead of modifying the system Python installation:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install psutil