poetry-core

poetry-core is a lightweight build backend for Python. It implements the PEP 517 backend interface. This way, frontends like pip can build Poetry-managed projects into wheels and source distributions without installing the full Poetry application.

Installation and Setup

Install it from Python Package Index (PyPI) into your virtual environment:

Shell 
(venv) $ python -m pip install poetry-core

Declare poetry-core in your pyproject.toml, then use any compliant frontend to build or install:

TOML 
[build-system]
requires = ["poetry-core>=2.0.0,<3.0.0"]
build-backend = "poetry.core.masonry.api"

Key Features

  • Implements the PEP 517 backend interface so tools like pip, build, tox, and uv can build projects configured for Poetry without pulling in Poetry’s full dependency tree.
  • Produces wheels and sdists from pyproject.toml, honoring Poetry settings, such as custom package discovery and include/exclude rules.
  • Works with standardized project metadata in [project] while keeping Poetry-specific options under [tool.poetry].

Usage

Once the [build-system] section points to poetry-core, use a frontend to build or install. The backend is invoked automatically. Here’s an example with pip:

Windows PowerShell 
PS> py -m pip wheel .
PS> py -m pip install .
Shell 
$ python3 -m pip wheel .
$ python3 -m pip install .
Dependency Management With Python and Poetry

Tutorial

Dependency Management With Python Poetry

Learn how Python Poetry will help you start new projects, maintain existing ones, and master dependency management.

intermediate best-practices devops tools

For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:

By Leodanis Pozo Ramos • Updated July 20, 2026
Python Tools Share Feedback