How to Install `invoke` in Python

v3.0.3 CLI & Utilities Python >=3.9

Pythonic task execution

Install pip install invoke

What is invoke?

Pythonic task execution

Invoke is a Python library for managing shell-oriented subprocesses and organizing executable Python code into CLI-invokable tasks. It draws inspiration from various sources (``, Fabric 1.x, etc) to arrive at a powerful & clean feature set.

To find out what's new in this version of Invoke, please see `the changelog `.

For a high level introduction, including example code, please see `our main project website the versioned API website `.

PyPI page → Author: Jeff Forcier <jeff@bitprophet.org>

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with invoke:

from invoke import task

@task
def build(c):
    c.run("python -m build")

@task
def test(c):
    c.run("pytest tests/")

@task(pre=[build])
def deploy(c):
    c.run("scp dist/*.whl server:/opt/app/")
# Run: invoke test

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install invoke

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install invoke

pip3

pip3 install invoke

conda

conda install -c conda-forge invoke

Poetry

poetry add invoke

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import invoke; print(invoke.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing invoke with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'invoke'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install invoke. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'invoke' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install invoke to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'invoke'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show invoke and upgrade with pip install --upgrade invoke.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install invoke. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user invoke

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org invoke

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`3.0.3` latest	2026-04-07
`3.0.1`	2026-04-06
`3.0.2`	2026-04-06
`3.0.0`	2026-04-05
`2.1.4`	2025-10-11

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage invoke

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade invoke

Install a specific version

pip install invoke==3.0.3

Uninstall

pip uninstall invoke

Check what is installed

pip show invoke

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install invoke in Python