Phase 0 · Tools · Developer tools
Packages and environments
Install libraries with pip and keep projects isolated with venv.
Why it matters
Nearly all AI work in Python runs on packages other people wrote: anthropic and openai for model APIs, numpy and pandas for data, torch and transformers for training models. The first lines of almost every AI project's setup install them. Knowing how packages and environments work turns "it doesn't work on my machine" from a mystery into a two-minute fix.
What you'll be able to do
- Install a package from PyPI with pip and import it
- Create, activate and leave a virtual environment
- Read and use a requirements.txt file
- Diagnose a ModuleNotFoundError
Before this lesson
Next in this phase: How APIs work