Does Poetry support PEP 621?

Yes, since Poetry 2.0. The standard [project] table replaces [tool.poetry] for basic metadata: name, version, description, requires-python, and dependencies. Poetry-specific features like package include/exclude patterns, source configuration, and plugin requirements still live in [tool.poetry].

What is the difference between tool.poetry and project.dependencies?

[project.dependencies] follows PEP 621 and uses PEP 508 specifiers (requests>=2.28). [tool.poetry.dependencies] uses Poetry's own syntax, including the ^ caret operator for compatible releases and inline extras. Both work in Poetry 2.0+; [project.dependencies] is portable to other build tools.

Can I use both tool.poetry and project.dependencies?

Yes. Poetry 2.0+ accepts both in the same pyproject.toml. Standard metadata goes in [project] for portability; Poetry-specific features stay in [tool.poetry] for anything the standard does not cover.

Should I switch from Poetry to a different tool?

If Poetry fits your workflow, switching is not necessary. For new projects, uv offers faster dependency resolution and a broader feature set. See the How do uv and Poetry compare? page for the full breakdown.

Does Poetry Support Python Standards for Dependency Management?

by Tim Hopper · Markdown

Packaging

Poetry 2.0 added support for the PEP 621 project metadata standard. Before that release, Poetry stored all project information under its proprietary [tool.poetry] table, making it unreadable by other build tools without Poetry installed.

What the standard format covers

The [project] table in pyproject.toml now handles the metadata that [tool.poetry] originally owned:

[project]
name = "my-package"
version = "1.0.0"
description = "A short description."
requires-python = ">=3.11"
dependencies = [
    "requests>=2.28",
    "httpx>=0.24",
]

[project.optional-dependencies]
dev = ["pytest>=8.0"]

This format is readable by any PEP 621-compliant tool: uv, Hatchling, flit, and others. Note that [project.dependencies] uses PEP 508 dependency specifiers (requests>=2.28) rather than Poetry’s caret syntax (requests = "^2.28").

Which features still need [tool.poetry]

Not every Poetry feature has a standard equivalent. These remain Poetry-specific:

Package discovery. packages = [{include = "..."}] controls which Python packages the build includes and excludes.
Source configuration. [[tool.poetry.source]] points to private registries.
Minimum Poetry version. requires-poetry = ">=2.0" pins the Poetry version a project requires.
Plugin requirements. [tool.poetry.requires-plugins] declares Poetry plugins the project depends on.

A project can use both tables at once: standard metadata in [project], Poetry-specific options in [tool.poetry].

Why the format choice matters

A Poetry project using [project] for its metadata can be read by other tools without Poetry installed. CI pipelines that call uv build or pip install . work without Poetry. Developers can inspect or update dependencies using any PEP 621-aware editor or tool.

Projects locked into [tool.poetry] alone require Poetry-aware tooling at every step in the build and install chain.

Learn More

Last updated on July 20, 2026

Do you still need tox or nox if you use uv?Does Ruff support type checking?

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