Installation

Spyder is quite easy to install on Windows, Linux and macOS; just read the following instructions with care.

This section explains how to install the latest stable release of Spyder. If you prefer testing the development version, please use the bootstrap script (see next section).

If you run into problems, before posting a report, please consult our comprehensive Troubleshooting Guide and search the issue tracker for your error message and problem description, as these methods are known to fix or at least isolate the vast majority of install-related problems. Thanks!

The Harder Way: Alternative distributions

Important Note: While we offer alternative Spyder installation options for users who desire them, we currently lack the resources to offer individual assistance for problems specific to installing via these alternative distributions. Therefore, we recommend you switch to Anaconda if you encounter installation issues you are unable to solve on your own.

Windows

Spyder is also included in the WinPython scientific Python distribution, although some users have reported bugs specific to it. You can use it immediately after installing, just like with Anaconda.

macOS

Thanks to the *MacPorts* project, Spyder can be installed using its port package manager; however, it may be out of date or have MacPorts-specific issues outside of Spyder’s control.

There are several versions available from which you can choose from.

Warning

It is known that the MacPorts version of Spyder is raising this error: ValueError: unknown locale: UTF-8, which doesn’t let it start correctly.

To fix it you will have to set these environment variables in your ~/.profile (or ~/.bashrc) manually:

export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

GNU/Linux

Please refer to the Requirements section to see what other packages you might need.

Ubuntu:

Using the official package manager: sudo apt-get install spyder.

Note

This package could be slightly outdated. If you find that is the case, please use the Debian package mentioned below.

Debian Unstable:

Using the package manager: sudo apt-get install spyder

The Spyder’s official Debian package is available here

Other Distributions

Spyder is also available in other GNU/Linux distributions, like

Please refer to your distribution’s documentation to learn how to install it there.


The Expert Way: Installing with pip

Warning: While this installation method is a viable option for experienced users, installing Spyder (and other SciPy stack packages) with pip can lead to a number of tricky issues. While you are welcome to try this on your own, we unfortunately do not have the resources to help you if you do run into problems, except to recommend using Anaconda instead.

Requirements

The requirements to run Spyder are:

  • Python 2.7 or >=3.3
  • PyQt5 >=5.2 or PyQt4 >=4.6.0 (PyQt5 is recommended).
  • Qtconsole >=4.2.0 – for an enhanced Python interpreter.
  • Rope >=0.9.4 and Jedi >=0.9.0 – for code completion, go-to-definition and calltips on the Editor.
  • Pyflakes – for real-time code analysis.
  • Sphinx – for the Help pane rich text mode and to get our documentation.
  • Pygments >=2.0 – for syntax highlighting and code completion in the Editor of all file types it supports.
  • Pylint – for static code analysis.
  • Pycodestyle – for style analysis.
  • Psutil – for memory/CPU usage in the status bar.
  • Nbconvert – to manipulate Jupyter notebooks on the Editor.
  • Qtawesome >=0.4.1 – for an icon theme based on FontAwesome.
  • Pickleshare – To show import completions on the Editor and Consoles.
  • PyZMQ – To run introspection services on the Editor asynchronously.
  • QtPy >=1.2.0 – To run Spyder with PyQt4 or PyQt5 seamlessly.
  • Chardet >=2.0.0– Character encoding auto-detection in Python.
  • Numpydoc Used by Jedi to get return types for functions with Numpydoc docstrings.
  • Cloudpickle Serialize variables in the IPython kernel to send them to Spyder.

Optional modules

  • Matplotlib >=1.0 – for 2D and 3D plotting in the consoles.
  • Pandas >=0.13.1 – for view and editing DataFrames and Series in the Variable Explorer.
  • Numpy – for view and editing two or three dimensional arrays in the Variable Explorer.
  • Sympy >=0.7.3 – for working with symbolic mathematics in the IPython console.
  • Scipy – for importing Matlab workspace files in the Variable Explorer.
  • Cython >=0.21 – Run Cython files or Python files that depend on Cython libraries in the IPython console.

Installation procedure

You can install Spyder with the pip package manager, which comes by default with most Python installations. Before installing Spyder itself by this method, you need to acquire the Python programming language

Then, to install Spyder and its other dependencies, run pip install spyder. You may need to separately install a Qt binding with pip if running Python 2; PyQt5 is strongly recommended though the legacy PyQt4 is also still supported.

Run without installing

You can execute Spyder without installing it first by following these steps:

  1. Unzip the source package available for download on the Spyder Github repo (or clone from Github, see the next section)
  2. Change current directory to the unzipped directory
  3. Run Spyder with the command python bootstrap.py
  4. (Optional) Build the documentation with python setup.py build_doc.

This is especially useful for beta-testing, troubleshooting and helping develop Spyder itself.


Updating Spyder

You can update Spyder by:

  • Updating Anaconda (recommended), WinPython, MacPorts, or through your system package manager, if you installed via those options.

    With Anaconda, just run (in Anaconda Prompt if on Windows) conda update spyder to update Spyder specifically, and conda update anaconda to update the rest of the distribution, as desired.

  • If you installed Spyder via the advanced/crossplatform method, pip, run pip install --upgrade spyder

    Note

    This command will also update all Spyder dependencies


Installing the development version

If you want to try the next Spyder version before it is released, you can! You may want to do this for fixing bugs in Spyder, adding new features, learning how Spyder works or just getting a taste of it. For more information, please see the CONTRIBUTING.md document included with the Spyder source or on Github, or for further detail consult the online development wiki .

To do so:

  1. Install Spyder requirements

    The recommended and easiest way to do this is with conda:

    conda install spyder then conda remove spyder

    This installs all of Spyder’s dependencies into the environment along with the stable/packaged version of Spyder itself, and then removes the latter.

  2. Install Git, a powerful source control management tool.

  3. Clone the Spyder source code repository with the command:

    git clone https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder.git

  4. Run Spyder with the bootstrap.py script from within the cloned directory: python bootstrap.py

  5. To keep your repository up-to-date, run

    git pull

    inside the cloned directory.

  6. (Optional) If you want to read the documentation, you must build it first with the command

    python setup.py build_doc


Help and support

Spyder websites:

  • For a comprehensive guide to spyder troubleshooting, including installation issues, read our Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ.
  • For bug reports and feature requests you can go to our website.
  • For general and development-oriented information, visit our Github wiki.
  • For discussions and help requests, you can subscribe to our Google Group.