Introducing odoo-venv

How do you install and run Odoo? It sounds like a simple question, but you may be surprised by how many valid answers there are, depending on who you ask.

Here is a non-exhaustive overview:

• Odoo SA
  • Maintains DEB and RPM packages
  • Maintains the official Odoo Docker Hub image , built on Ubuntu images and its own DEB package
• OCA (Odoo Community Association)
  • Provides a Docker image for running tests: oca-ci
  • Publishes OCA addons to a pip wheelhouse, which makes a pip-only approach possible
• Odoo integrators
  • Use Docker-based solutions, such as:
    • Doodba
    • Camptocamp’s docker-odoo-project

Each approach has its merits. But the more layers of abstraction a setup relies on, the more complex and challenging local development becomes.

At Trobz, we chose a simple approach based on Python virtual environments: odoo-venv .

Why Trobz Runs Odoo in a Virtual Environment

We prefer to run Odoo inside a Python virtual environment. It gives us more control, clarity and flexibility when we:

• Debug issues locally
• Need to know exactly which dependencies are installed
• Switch between Odoo versions or projects

Managing these environments by hand quickly becomes tedious, though, because every project has its own dependency requirements. That is why we built odoo-venv.

How odoo-venv Works

odoo-venv is a small command-line tool designed to spin up isolated Odoo environments in seconds. It standardizes how we create and manage these environments across our different use cases.

Key Features

• Creates a Python virtual environment with the correct Python version
• Installs Odoo’s core dependencies
• Installs the dependencies declared in addon manifests
• Manages presets for different types of Odoo projects
• Filters out problematic or unwanted dependencies

It’s Fast

One of the biggest advantages of odoo-venv is its speed. Under the hood, it uses uv , an extremely fast, modern Python package installer. In practice:

• The uv project reports package operations 10–100x faster than with traditional tools such as pip
• You can iterate quickly without waiting for slow pip installs

In short, odoo-venv brings together the simplicity of python -m venv and the speed of modern tooling.

How to Use It

The simplest way to use odoo-venv is with command-line arguments:

odoo-venv create 17.0 \
    --odoo-dir ~/code/odoo/odoo/17.0 \
    --python-version 3.10 \
    --extra-requirement "debugpy,ipython"

This creates a virtual environment for Odoo 17.0 that:

• Uses Python 3.10
• Installs Odoo in editable mode
• Installs Odoo’s dependencies
• Adds the extra tools debugpy and ipython

Using Presets

For configurations you use repeatedly, presets are recommended. odoo-venv ships with four presets, each suited to a specific use case.

Local

What it does

• Installs the dependencies of all modules, from both requirements.txt files and manifests
• Includes development tools such as debugpy, ipython, pylint and coverage
• Skips gevent and greenlet from Odoo’s requirements, as they often cause version conflicts

Ideal for

• Exploratory development
• Quick work on OCA modules

Demo

What it does

• Installs the dependencies of all available modules
• Ensures users can install any module without missing dependencies

Ideal for

• Client demonstrations
• UAT environments

Project

What it does

• Installs the additional dependencies listed in the project
• Keeps the environment minimal and predictable

Ideal for

• Production environments
• Client-specific projects

CI

What it does

• Installs the dependencies of all modules
• Adds extra dependencies for testing, such as websocket-client, coverage and pylint

Ideal for

• CI pipelines

You can also create your own preset by defining it in the presets.toml file located in ~/.local/share/odoo-venv.

Using odoo-venv in Python

odoo-venv can also be used programmatically in Python scripts:

from odoo_venv import create_odoo_venv

create_odoo_venv(
    odoo_version="17.0",
    odoo_dir="~/code/odoo/odoo/17.0",
    venv_dir="./.venv",
    python_version="3.10",
    addons_paths=["~/code/oca/web/17.0"],
    install_addons_dirs_requirements=True,
    extra_requirements=["debugpy", "ipython"],
)

Conclusion

Odoo deployment strategies often feel complex and fragmented. odoo-venv offers a refreshingly simple alternative.

It works best combined with another useful part of our stack: odoo-addons-path .