Installation

The pairinteraction software runs on Linux, macOS 13 or later (Intel & Apple Silicon), and Windows. It is compatible with Python ≥ 3.9.

Installing from PyPI

For most users, we recommend installing pairinteraction from the Python Package Index (PyPI). You can install pairinteraction from the command line via the pip package manager:

pip install pairinteraction

Tip

We strongly advise performing the installation inside a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with other Python packages. For an easy setup, even on systems where Python is not yet installed, we recommend using uv. This blazingly fast package manager is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to pip. You can run the following commands to set up uv and install pairinteraction in a new virtual environment with a recent version of Python:

# install the uv package manager
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# create a new virtual environment in the current directory
uv venv --python 3.12

# activate the environment
source .venv/bin/activate

# install pairinteraction
uv pip install pairinteraction

# deactivate the environment when you are done using pairinteraction
deactivate

Next Steps

After the installation, we recommend to verify that everything is working:

# print the current version of the pairinteraction library
pairinteraction --version

# run a module test to check if everything is working correctly
pairinteraction test

# download the databases for the species you want to use (e.g. Rb and Yb174_mqdt)
pairinteraction download Rb Yb174_mqdt

Using pairinteraction as a Python Library: For usage examples of the Python library, visit the Tutorials - Python API section of the documentation.

Using the Graphical User Interface (GUI): The graphical user interface can be started by executing

pairinteraction gui

from the command line. This allows you to do some common and basic calculations without writing any code. For more information on how to use the graphical user interface, visit the Tutorials - Graphical User Interface section of the documentation.

Installing from Flathub (Linux only)

If you are on Linux and only interested in the graphical user interface, you can install pairinteraction as a Flatpak package. For the installation, you have to first install Flatpak (follow the setup guide for your Linux distribution) and then run:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flathub org.pairinteraction.Pairinteraction

Afterwards, you can start the GUI with:

flatpak run org.pairinteraction.Pairinteraction

Building from Source

For developers and experienced users who want to adjust the source code to their own needs, or want to contribute to the package we recommend building the software from source. Some instructions on how to do this can be found in the Advanced Installation.