How to Install `mahotas` in Python

v1.4.18 Data & Science MIT

Mahotas: Computer Vision Library

Install pip install mahotas

What is mahotas?

Mahotas: Computer Vision Library

Mahotas is a library of fast computer vision algorithms (all implemented in C++ for speed) operating over numpy arrays.

Python versions 2.7, 3.4+, are supported.

- watershed - convex points calculations. - hit & miss, thinning. - Zernike & Haralick, LBP, and TAS features. - Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF), a form of local features. - thresholding. - convolution. - Sobel edge detection. - spline interpolation - SLIC super pixels.

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Luis Pedro Coelho

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with mahotas:

import mahotas

print(mahotas.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install mahotas

Virtual environment (recommended)

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

pip3

pip3 install mahotas

conda

conda install -c conda-forge mahotas

Poetry

poetry add mahotas

Dependencies

Installing mahotas will also install these packages:

numpy

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import mahotas; print(mahotas.__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 mahotas with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'mahotas'

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

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

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'mahotas' (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 mahotas to install into the interpreter you are running.

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

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

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

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 mahotas. 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 mahotas

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 mahotas

MemoryError when loading data

Cause: Dataset is too large to fit in RAM.

Fix: Read in chunks, filter columns on load, or consider Polars/Dask for out-of-core processing.

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`1.4.18` latest	2024-07-17
`1.4.17`	2024-07-13
`1.4.15`	2024-04-17
`1.4.14`	2024-03-23
`1.4.13`	2022-06-28

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage mahotas

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade mahotas

Install a specific version

pip install mahotas==1.4.18

Uninstall

pip uninstall mahotas

Check what is installed

pip show mahotas

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

How to Install mahotas in Python