Install

NetworkX requires Python 3.12, 3.13, or 3.14. NetworkX is a pure Python package with no hard dependencies; however, certain features (e.g. graph drawing, spectral analysis, link analysis, etc.) depend on the scientific Python stack. These soft dependencies are captured in the default optional dependency group and can be installed with, e.g. pip install networkx[default]. For more detailed information, check out SciPy’s instructions for installing the full scientific Python stack.

Below we assume you have a Python environment already configured on your computer and you intend to install networkx inside of it. For further details on environment setup and management tools, from the built-in Python venv module to toolchains like uv, conda/mamba and pixi, check out the Scientific Python Development Guide.

First, make sure you have the latest version of pip (the Python package manager) installed. If you do not, refer to the Pip documentation and install pip first.

Install the released version

Install the current release of networkx with pip:

$ pip install networkx

This installs NetworkX without any dependencies. In order to make use of additional functionality in NetworkX, it is recommended to install the default scientific Python dependencies (e.g. numpy, scipy, matplotlib):

$ pip install networkx[default]

To upgrade to a newer release use the --upgrade flag:

$ pip install --upgrade networkx[default]

Install the development version

If you have Git installed on your system, it is also possible to install the development version of networkx.

First, git clone the source code:

$ git clone https://github.com/networkx/networkx.git
$ cd networkx

Then, in a new development environment:

$ pip install -e .[default]

The pip install -e .[default] command allows you to follow the development branch as it changes by creating links in the right places and installing the command line scripts to the appropriate locations.

Then, if you want to update networkx at any time, in the same directory do:

$ git pull

Backends

NetworkX has the ability to dispatch function calls to optional, separately-installed, third-party backends. NetworkX backends let users experience improved performance and/or additional functionality without changing their NetworkX Python code.

While NetworkX is a pure-Python implementation with minimal to no dependencies, backends may be written in other languages and require specialized hardware and/or OS support, additional software dependencies, or even separate services.

Installation instructions vary based on the backend, and additional information can be found from the individual backend project pages listed in the Backends section.

Extra packages

The following extra packages provide additional functionality. See the files in the requirements/ directory for information about specific version requirements.

• PyGraphviz provides graph drawing and graph layout algorithms via GraphViz.

• lxml for improved performance in parsing GraphML XML format.

To install networkx and extra packages, do:

$ pip install networkx[default,extra]

To explicitly install all optional packages, do:

$ pip install pygraphviz lxml

Or, install any optional package (e.g., pygraphviz) individually:

$ pip install pygraphviz

Testing

NetworkX uses the Python pytest testing package. You can learn more about pytest on their homepage.

Test a source distribution

You can test the complete package from the unpacked source directory with:

pytest networkx

Test an installed package

From a shell command prompt you can test the installed package with:

pytest --pyargs networkx