Many languages have many package management tools but most languages there are one or two really popular ones.
For python you just have to memorize this basically:
- Does the project have a setup.py? if so, first run several other commands before you can run it. python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install -e .
- else does it have a requirements.txt? if so python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && pip install -r requirements.txt
- else does it have a pyproject.toml? if so poetry install and then prefix all commands with poetry run
- else does it have a pipfile? pipenv install and then prefix all commands with pipenv run
- else does it have an environment.yml? if so conda env create -f environment.yml and then look inside the file and conda activate <environment_name>
- else I have not had to learn the rules for uv yet
Thank goodness these days I just open up a cursor tab and say "get this project running"