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# Upgrading to tox v4

Version 4 is mostly backwards compatible. This document covers all breaking changes and, where applicable, includes guidance on how to update.

See also the list of new features in the FAQ.

## Python support

- tox now requires Python `3.7` or later and is tested only against CPython. You can still create test environments for earlier Python versions or different Python interpreters. PyPy support is best effort, meaning we do not test it as part of our CI runs, however if you discover issues under PyPy we will accept PRs addressing it.

## Changed INI rules

- The hash sign (`#`) now always acts as comment within `tox.ini` or `setup.cfg` tox configuration file. Where you need to pass on a `#` character you will need to escape it in form of `\#` so tox does not handle everything right of the `#` character as a comment. Valid in tox 3:

      # valid in tox 3
      commands = bash -c "echo 'foo#bar'"

      # valid in tox 4
      commands = bash -c "echo 'foo\#bar'"

- Within the `pass_env` you can no longer use space as value separator, instead you need to use the `,` or the newline character. This is to have the same value separation rules for all tox configuration lines.

      # valid in tox 3
      passenv = ALPHA BETA
      passenv =
          ALPHA
          BETA

      # valid in tox 4
      passenv = ALPHA, BETA
      passenv =
          ALPHA
          BETA

- tox 4 now errors when using the `-U` flag when defining dependencies, e.g. `deps = -Ur requirements.txt`. While this worked in tox 3, it was never supported officially. Additionally, in the context of a new virtual environment this flag makes no sense anyway.

- tox 4 requires the `install_command` to evaluate to a non-empty value for each target environment. In tox 3, an empty value would be substituted for the default install command.

## Known regressions

- On Windows, the tty trait of the caller environment is no longer passed through. The most notable impact of this change is that some tools no longer show colored output. You may need to force colorization to be for such enabled for such tools. See #2337 for more details.

## New plugin system

tox 4 is a grounds up rewrite of the code base, and while we kept the configuration layer compatibility no such effort has been made for the programmatic API. Therefore, all plugins will need to redo their integration against the new code base. If you’re a plugin developer refer to the plugin documentation for more information.

## Removed tox.ini keys

Configuration key | Migration path
--- | ---
`indexserver` | See Using a custom PyPI server.
`whitelist_externals` | Use allowlist_externals key instead.
`isolated_build` | Isolated builds are now always used.
`distdir` | Use the `TOX_PACKAGE` environment variable.

## basepython not resolved

The base python configuration is no longer resolved to `pythonx.y` format, instead is kept as `py39`, and is the virtualenv project that handles mapping that to a Python interpreter. If you were using this variable we recommend moving to the newly added `py_impl` and `py_dot_ver` variables, for example:

    deps = -r{py_impl}{py_dot_ver}-req.txt

## Failure when all environments are skipped

A run that results in all environments being skipped will no longer result in success. Instead, a failure will be reported. For example, consider a host that does not support Python 3.5:

    tox run --skip-missing-interpreters=true -e py35

This will now result in a failure.

## Substitutions removed

- The `distshare` and `homedir` substitutions have been removed.

## Disallowed env names

- Environment names that contain multiple Python variants, such as `name-py39-pypy` or `py39-py310` will now raise an error, previously this only warned, you can use ignore_basepython_conflict to disable this error, but we recommend changing the name to avoid this name that can be confusing.

## CLI arguments changed

- The `--parallel--safe-build` CLI argument has been removed, no longer needed.

- When you want to pass an option to a test command, e.g. to `pytest`, now you must use `--` as a separator, this worked with version 3 also, but any unknown trailing arguments were automatically passed through, while now this is no longer the case.

- Running `--showconfig` or `--help-ini` with the `-v` flag will add interleaved debugging information, whereas tox 3 added additional lines at the start. If you want to generate valid ini files you must not use the `-v` flag.

- The `--index-url` is now removed, use `PIP_INDEX_URL` in set_env instead.

## Output changes

- We now use colors for reporting, to help make the output easier to read for humans. This can be disabled via the `TERM=dumb` or `NO_COLOR=1` environment variables, or the `--colored no` CLI argument.

## Reuse of environments

- It is no longer possible to reuse environments. While this might have been possible with tox version 3, this behavior was never supported, and possibly caused wrong results as illustrated in the following example.

    [testenv]
    envdir = .tox/venv

    [testenv:a]
    deps = pytest>7

    [testenv:b]
    deps = pytest<7

## CLI command compatibility

`tox` 4 introduced dedicated subcommands for various usages. However, when no subcommand is given the legacy entry point which imitates `tox` 3 is used.

This compatibility feature makes most `tox` 3 commands work in `tox` 4, but there are some exceptions.

### Updating usage with `-e`

In `tox` 3, environments could be specified to run with the `-e` flag. In `tox` 4, environments should always be specified using the `-e` flag to the `run` subcommand.

Rewrite usages as follows

    # tox 3
    tox -e py310,style

    # tox 4
    tox run -e py310,style

    # or, tox 4 with the short alias
    tox r -e py310,style

### Environment names matching commands

Now that `tox` has subcommands, it is possible for arguments to `tox` or its options to match those subcommand names. When that happens, parsing can become ambiguous between the `tox` 4 usage and the legacy fallback behavior.

For example, consider the following tox config:

    [tox]
    env_list = py39,py310

    [testenv]
    commands =
        python -c 'print("hi")'

    [testenv:list]
    commands =
        python -c 'print("a, b, c")'

This defines an environment whose name matches a `tox` 4 command, `list`.

Under `tox` 3, `tox -e list` specified the `list` environment. However, under `tox` 4, the parse of this usage as an invocation of `tox list` takes precedence over the legacy behavior.

Therefore, attempting that same usage results in an error:

    $ tox -e list
    ...
    tox: error: unrecognized arguments: -e

This is best avoided by updating to non-legacy usage:

    $ tox run -e list

    # or, equivalently...
    $ tox r -e list

## Packaging environments

### Isolated environment on by default

`tox` now always uses an isolated build environment when building your projects package. The previous flag to enable this called `isolated_build` has been removed.

### Packaging configuration and inheritance

Isolated build environments are tox environments themselves and may be configured on their own. Their name is defined as follows:

- For source distributions this environment will match a virtual environment with the same python interpreter as tox is using. The name of this environment will by default `.pkg` (can be changed via package_env config on a per test environment basis).

- For wheels (including editable wheels as defined by PEP 660) their name will be `.pkg-<impl><python_version>`, so for example if you’re building a wheel for a Python 3.10 environment the packaging environment will be `.pkg-cpython311` (can be changed via wheel_build_env config on a per test environment basis).

To change a packaging environments settings you can use:

    [testenv:.pkg]
    pass_env =
        PKG_CONFIG
        PKG_CONFIG_PATH
        PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR

    [testenv:.pkg-cpython311]
    pass_env =
        PKG_CONFIG
        PKG_CONFIG_PATH
        PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR

Packaging environments no longer inherit their settings from the `testenv` section, as this caused issues when some test environment settings conflicted with packaging setting. However starting with `tox>=4.2` all packaging environments inherit from the `pkgenv` section, allowing you to define packaging common packaging settings in one central place, while still allowing you to override it when needed on a per package environment basis:

    [pkgenv]
    pass_env =
        PKG_CONFIG
        PKG_CONFIG_PATH
        PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR

    [testenv:.pkg-cpython311]
    pass_env =
        {[pkgenv]pass_env}
        IS_311 = yes

    [testenv:magic]
    package = sdist
    pass_env = {[pkgenv]pass_env}  # sdist install builds wheel -> need packaging settings

Note that specific packaging environments are defined under `testenv:.pkg` and not `pkgenv:.pkg`, this is due backwards compatibility.

### Universal wheels

If your project builds universal wheels you can avoid using multiple build environments for each targeted python by setting wheel_build_env to the same packaging environment via:

    [testenv]
    package = wheel
    wheel_build_env = .pkg

### Editable mode

`tox` now defaults to using editable wheels when develop mode is enabled and the build backend supports it, as defined by PEP 660 by setting package to `editable`. In case the backend does not support it, will fallback to package to `editable-legacy`, and invoke pip with `-e`. In the later case will also print a message to make this setting explicit in your configuration (explicit better than implicit):

    [testenv:dev]
    package = editable-legacy

If you want to use the new standardized method to achieve the editable install effect you should ensure your backend version is above the version this feature was added to it, for example for setuptools:

    [testenv:dev]
    deps = setuptools>=64
    package = editable

## Provisioning environment

The provisioning environment is triggered when `minversion` or `requires` are specified and the current environment does not satisfy the requirement. In tox 4, the provisioning environment (`.tox` by default) must be explicitly configured and will not inherit values from `[testenv]` section.