How to Install `fabric` in Python

v3.2.3 CLI & Utilities BSD

High level SSH command execution

Install pip install fabric

What is fabric?

High level SSH command execution

Fabric is a high level Python (2.7, 3.4+) library designed to execute shell commands remotely over SSH, yielding useful Python objects in return. It builds on top of (subprocess command execution and command-line features) and (SSH protocol implementation), extending their APIs to complement one another and provide additional functionality.

To find out what's new in this version of Fabric, please see `the changelog `.

The project maintainer keeps a `roadmap ` on his website.

Documentation → PyPI page → Author: Jeff Forcier

Quick Start

Minimal example to get started with fabric:

import fabric

print(fabric.__version__)

Installation

pip (standard)

pip install fabric

Virtual environment (recommended)

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate   # Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install fabric

pip3

pip3 install fabric

conda

conda install -c conda-forge fabric

Poetry

poetry add fabric

Dependencies

Installing fabric will also install these packages:

invoke paramiko decorator deprecated

Verify the Installation

After installing, confirm the package is available:

python -c "import fabric; print(fabric.__version__)"

If this prints a version number, installation succeeded. If you see a ModuleNotFoundError, see the errors section below.

Installation Errors

Common errors when installing fabric with pip.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fabric'

Cause: The package is not installed in the current Python environment.

Fix: Run pip install fabric. If using a virtual environment, ensure it is activated first.

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fabric' (installed but still failing)

Cause: pip installed the package into a different Python than the one running your script.

Fix: Use python -m pip install fabric to install into the interpreter you are running.

ImportError: cannot import name 'X' from 'fabric'

Cause: The function or class does not exist in the installed version.

Fix: Check the version with pip show fabric and upgrade with pip install --upgrade fabric.

pip: command not found

Cause: pip is not in PATH or Python was not added to PATH during installation.

Fix: Try python -m pip install fabric. On macOS/Linux try pip3.

PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Cause: No write access to the system Python package directory.

Fix: Use a virtual environment, or add --user: pip install --user fabric

SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED

Cause: pip cannot verify PyPI's SSL certificate — common behind corporate proxies.

Fix: Try: pip install --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org fabric

Recent Releases

Version	Released
`3.2.3` latest	2026-04-06
`3.2.2`	2023-08-31
`3.2.0`	2023-08-06
`3.2.1`	2023-08-06
`3.1.0`	2023-05-25

Full release history on PyPI →

Manage fabric

Upgrade to latest version

pip install --upgrade fabric

Install a specific version

pip install fabric==3.2.3

Uninstall

pip uninstall fabric

Check what is installed

pip show fabric

Last updated: 2026-04-11 • Data from PyPI

How to Install fabric in Python