How to Install `pynput` in Python

v1.8.1 General Purpose LGPLv3

Monitor and control user input devices

Install pip install pynput

What is pynput?

Monitor and control user input devices

This library allows you to control and monitor input devices.

Currently, mouse and keyboard input and monitoring are supported.

from pynput.mouse import Button, Controller

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Moses Palmér

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with pynput:

import pynput

print(pynput.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install pynput

Virtual environment (recommended)

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

pip3

pip3 install pynput

conda

conda install -c conda-forge pynput

Poetry

poetry add pynput

Dependencies

Installing pynput will also install these packages:

six evdev python-xlib enum34 pyobjc-framework-ApplicationServices pyobjc-framework-Quartz

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

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

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pynput'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 pynput. 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 pynput

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 pynput

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`1.8.1` latest	2025-03-17
`1.8.0`	2025-03-03
`1.7.8`	2025-02-28
`1.7.7`	2024-05-10
`1.7.6`	2022-01-01

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage pynput

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade pynput

Install a specific version

pip install pynput==1.8.1

Uninstall

pip uninstall pynput

Check what is installed

pip show pynput

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

How to Install pynput in Python