Python (python-build-standalone)

Self-contained CPython builds produced by python-build-standalone, the distribution Astral maintains and that uv installs. Each build is PGO+LTO optimized, relocatable, and carries its own OpenSSL, SQLite, libffi and zlib — it runs on a host with no system Python and no development headers installed.

What's included

• python, python3 — the CPython interpreter
• pip, pip3 — the bundled package installer
• python3-config — build/link configuration helper
• idle3 — the bundled IDLE editor
• pydoc3 — the standard library documentation browser

Every executable also ships under its CPython-minor spelling beside these (python3.13, pip3.13, …). Windows ships python and pythonw only — there is no bin/ directory and no pip console script, so use python -m pip there.

Variants

• default (unprefixed tags) — upstream's install_only archive, the build its own documentation recommends for general use.
• slim (slim- prefixed tags) — upstream's install_only_stripped archive: the same files with debug symbols removed, roughly a third of the download.

Versions

A version is the CPython patch release plus the upstream build date: 3.13.14+20260728. Upstream rebuilds every supported minor on each release, so the build-date segment is what distinguishes a security or toolchain rebuild of the same interpreter. Rolling 3.13, 3 and latest aliases track the newest complete build.

CPython 3.12, 3.13 and 3.14 are mirrored. Free-threaded (no-GIL) builds are a different ABI and are not published here.

Links

• python-build-standalone
• python-build-standalone documentation
• Python documentation