/errors /uv/no-pyproject-toml-found

uv: error: No `pyproject.toml` found in current directory or any parent directory

updated 2026-10-21

tool: uv
exit code: 2
versions: uv 0.5 – 0.12
os: any

error: No pyproject.toml found in current directory or any parent directory means a uv project command (uv add, uv remove, uv sync, uv lock, uv tree) found no pyproject.toml in the current folder or any folder above it. These commands edit and lock a project, so one must exist. Run uv init to create it (or change into the project folder), then repeat the command.

Reproduce it

bash

uv add requests

Output · exit 2

error: No `pyproject.toml` found in current directory or any parent directory

uv exits with code 2 for this error, not 1.

Fix

bash

uv init --bare --name demo --python 3.13 -q
uv add --no-sync -q "six==1.16.0"
cat pyproject.toml

Output

[project]
name = "demo"
version = "0.1.0"
requires-python = ">=3.13"
dependencies = [
    "six==1.16.0",
]

--bare writes only pyproject.toml; plain uv init also creates README.md, .python-version and a package skeleton. --no-sync here only records the dependency and the lockfile without creating .venv.

Which uv command to use without a project

Goal	Command
Add a dependency to a project	uv add PACKAGE (needs pyproject.toml)
Install into an existing virtual environment	uv pip install PACKAGE
Install from requirements.txt	uv pip install -r requirements.txt
Dependencies for one script	uv add --script script.py PACKAGE, then uv run script.py
Run a tool once	uvx TOOL (for example uvx ruff check)
Run a command in a project elsewhere	uv run --project PATH COMMAND

Sources

commands · uvuv init: create a new Python project with uvuv init NAME creates a Python project with pyproject.toml, README, .python-version and git. The --app, --lib, --package, --bare and --script layouts compared.commands · uvuv run script.py with inline dependencies (PEP 723)uv add --script writes a PEP 723 dependency block into a single-file Python script; uv run script.py installs those packages in a cached env and runs it.errors · uvuv: error: The lockfile at `uv.lock` needs to be updated, but `--locked` was provideduv sync --locked fails when pyproject.toml changed but uv.lock was not regenerated. Run uv lock and commit uv.lock; --frozen skips the check entirely.

Reproduce it

Fix

Which uv command to use without a project

Sources

Related pages