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Environment Setup Guide

Before starting quantitative trading, you need a clean, stable, and isolated Python environment. This guide recommends uv (Fast & Modern) for Python environment and dependency management.

uv is a modern Python toolchain written in Rust. It unifies Python version management, virtual environments, and package installation.

1. Install uv

Tip: Users in China can install uv first, then use the Tsinghua PyPI mirror to speed up package downloads.

  1. Open PowerShell.
  2. Run: 
    powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
  3. Reopen terminal and run uv --version to verify installation.

Method A: Installer Script (Recommended) Open Terminal and run: 

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Method B: Via Homebrew

  1. After Homebrew is installed, run: 
    brew install uv
  2. Run uv --version to verify installation.

Open terminal and run: 

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv --version

1.5 Configure Mirrors (For Users in China)

If you are located in China, download speeds might be slow. It is recommended to use the Tsinghua University mirror.

# Configure uv/pip mirror
uv pip config set global.index-url https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

2. Create Virtual Environment

Do not install libraries directly into your system Python! We need a dedicated "sandbox".

Open your terminal (or CMD/PowerShell on Windows) and type:

# Create a virtual environment with Python 3.10
uv venv --python 3.10

# Activate the environment
# Windows:
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS / Linux:
source .venv/bin/activate

Once activated, your command prompt prefix will change to (.venv), indicating you are inside the sandbox.

Option B: uv (Project Workflow)

If you want extreme speed and lightweight management, uv is the fastest package manager in the Python ecosystem (written in Rust). It replaces pip and virtualenv.

1. Install uv

Run in PowerShell: 

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Run in Terminal: 

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

2. Create & Manage Environment

uv does not require pre-installed Python; it manages Python versions for you.

# 1. Create a project directory
mkdir my_strategy
cd my_strategy

# 2. Initialize virtual env (Specify Python 3.10)
# uv will automatically download Python 3.10 and create .venv folder
uv venv --python 3.10

# 3. Activate environment
# Windows:
.venv\Scripts\activate
# macOS / Linux:
source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install AKQuant & Verify

You should now be in an activated uv virtual environment.

Install

Install with uv: 

uv pip install akquant

# Users in China:
# uv pip install akquant --index-url https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

Verify

Create a test script verify.py:

import akquant
import pandas as pd

print(f"AKQuant Version: {akquant.__version__}")
print(f"Pandas Version: {pd.__version__}")
print("Environment setup successful! Ready to trade.")

Run it:

python verify.py

If you see the success message, your arsenal is ready! Next, go to Python for Finance to learn syntax, or jump to Quant Guide to start coding strategies.