Implementation:Vllm project Vllm Pip Install Vllm

Knowledge Sources	vLLM vLLM Docs
Domains	Machine Learning, Infrastructure, Package Management
Last Updated	2026-02-08 13:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for installing the vLLM inference engine provided by pip and PyPI.

Description

The pip install vllm command downloads and installs the vLLM package along with all of its runtime dependencies. On supported platforms (Linux x86_64 with CUDA 12.x), a pre-built wheel is fetched from PyPI, which includes compiled CUDA kernels for PagedAttention and other custom operators. The package registers the vllm CLI entry point and makes the vllm Python package importable.

The project metadata in pyproject.toml specifies:

• Python requirement: >=3.10, <3.14
• Build-time dependencies: cmake>=3.26.1, ninja, torch==2.9.1, setuptools>=77.0.3, jinja2
• Build backend: setuptools with setuptools-scm for version management

Usage

Run this command once to set up a new environment for vLLM-based inference or serving. Re-run with --upgrade to update to a newer release.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: vllm
• File: pyproject.toml
• Lines: 1-44

Signature

pip install vllm

Import

# After installation, verify the package is importable:
import vllm

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
package name	str	Yes	The package identifier on PyPI, i.e. vllm
--upgrade	flag	No	Upgrade to the latest available version
--extra-index-url	str	No	Additional index URL, useful for nightly or CUDA-specific wheels (e.g. https://wheels.vllm.ai/nightly/)

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
installed package	directory	The vllm package installed into site-packages
CLI entry point	executable	The vllm command-line tool for serving and utilities

Usage Examples

Basic Installation

# Install the latest stable release
pip install vllm

Installation with Upgrade

# Upgrade to the latest version
pip install --upgrade vllm

Installation in a Virtual Environment

# Create and activate a virtual environment, then install
python -m venv vllm-env
source vllm-env/bin/activate
pip install vllm

Verify Installation

from vllm import LLM, SamplingParams
print("vLLM installed successfully")

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Vllm_project_Vllm_Vllm_Installation

Requires Environment

• Environment:Vllm_project_Vllm_Python_Dependencies