Environment Variables

pipx reads the following environment variables. All are optional.

Variable	Description	Default
`PIPX_HOME`	Root directory for pipx virtual environments.	`~/.local/share/pipx` (Linux), `~/.local/pipx` (macOS), `~\pipx` (Windows)
`PIPX_BIN_DIR`	Directory where application entry-point symlinks are placed.	`~/.local/bin`
`PIPX_MAN_DIR`	Directory where man page symlinks are placed.	`~/.local/share/man`
`PIPX_GLOBAL_HOME`	Root directory for global (`--global`) virtual environments.	`/opt/pipx`
`PIPX_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR`	Binary directory for global installs.	`/usr/local/bin`
`PIPX_GLOBAL_MAN_DIR`	Man page directory for global installs.	`/usr/local/share/man`
`PIPX_DEFAULT_PYTHON`	Python interpreter to use when `--python` is not passed.	`python3` (or `py` on Windows)
`PIPX_SHARED_LIBS`	Override the shared libraries directory.	`PIPX_HOME/shared`
`PIPX_FETCH_MISSING_PYTHON`	Fetch missing Python versions when `--python` is used.	(unset)
`PIPX_HOME_ALLOW_SPACE`	Set to `true` to suppress the "space in PIPX_HOME" warning.	(unset)
`PIPX_USE_EMOJI`	Set to `0` to disable emoji output.	`1`
`PIPX_MAX_LOGS`	Maximum number of log files to keep in the logs directory.	`10`

Notes

PIPX_HOME has platform-specific fallback logic. If a legacy directory (e.g. ~/.local/pipx on Linux) already exists, pipx uses it instead of the new default. See Configure Paths for details.

Standard PIP_* environment variables (e.g. PIP_INDEX_URL) are forwarded to pip when pipx invokes it. See Troubleshooting if unexpected pip behaviour occurs.

Run pipx environment to see the resolved value of every directory variable on your system.