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Installation

VSView can be installed either as a Python package using pip or uv or as a standalone pre-built executable.

Python Package

Choose your preferred package manager to install vsview into an existing Python environment.

We recommend the recommended or full bundle for most users so that useful plugins are available out of the box.

Minimal installation
pip install vsview
Install with recommended plugins
pip install vsview[recommended]
Install with all plugins
pip install vsview[full]
Minimal installation
uv add vsview
Install with recommended plugins
uv add vsview --extra recommended
Install with all plugins
uv add vsview --extra full

Standalone Executable

Pre-built binaries for Windows x86-64, macOS ARM64, and Linux x86-64 are published on GitHub Releases.

Release executables are provided in two variants:

  • Online (Recommended): Small download size. Dynamically fetches dependencies on first launch.
  • Offline: Includes an embedded Python runtime and pre-installed workspace packages. Requires no external Python installation or internet access.
  • Download VSView.exe (or VSView-offline.exe) from GitHub Releases and launch the executable directly.
  1. Download VSView.dmg (or VSView-offline.dmg) from GitHub Releases.
  2. Open the .dmg file and drag VSView.app into your Applications folder.
  1. Download and extract the Linux release archive (vsview-pyapp-linux-x86_64.tar.gz or offline variant) from GitHub Releases.

  2. Run the included installation script from the extracted folder:

    bash install.sh

This script installs the executable to ~/.local/bin/VSView, registers standard hicolor icons in ~/.local/share/icons, and creates a .desktop menu launcher.

Extending Standalone Binaries

Standalone executables ship with an isolated Python environment that can be modified without needing a global Python installation.

Installing plugins & packages

Use vsview env pip to install additional Python packages or plugins directly into your standalone executable's environment:

.\VSView.exe env pip install vsjetpack[full]

/Applications/VSView.app/Contents/MacOS/VSView env pip install "vsjetpack[full]"

/VSView env pip install vsjetpack[full]

Visit the configuration section for more information on managing and extending the standalone environment.

Development Installation

For contributing, building from source, or local development, see the Contributing and Packaging & Distribution guides.