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Install from PyPI

The client-side install. Use this on any machine that runs the Whistlerlib client: your laptop, a Jupyter server, a CI runner that submits jobs to a Dask cluster, etc.

For the cluster itself (scheduler + workers), see Docker installation.

Requirements​

  • Python ≥ 3.11.
  • A reachable Dask scheduler (a local one via LocalCluster, or a remote one, see Architecture). The pip install does not start a cluster for you.

Install​

pip install whistlerlib

If you use uv: uv pip install whistlerlib (or uv add whistlerlib if you're managing a pyproject.toml).

That's it for the client. Verify:

python -c "import whistlerlib; print(whistlerlib.Context)"
# <class 'whistlerlib.context.Context'>

What you get​

A pip install on a bare host gives you the alt-python algorithm surface: everything in whistlerlib.dask.alt_python_algs:

  • hashtag_histogram_alt_python
  • mention_histogram_alt_python
  • ngram_histogram_alt_python
  • sentiment_range_spanish_alt_python
  • hashtag_weighted_coonet, mention_weighted_coonet

Plus the core types: Context, TweetDataset.

What you don't get (and why that's fine)​

The R-bridge methods, hashtag_histogram_r, mention_histogram_r, ngram_histogram_r, sentiment_histogram_and_sum_r, are not available from a pip install alone. They shell out to Rscript on the worker, which needs R + a curated set of R libraries (tm, syuzhet, RWeka, radvertools, …). Installing all of that on a researcher's laptop is exactly what we don't want you to do.

Instead, the R libraries live inside the published albertogarob/whistlerlib Docker image (Docker installation). The pattern is:

  • Client: pip install whistlerlib on your laptop. Use the alt-python methods locally, or submit work to a remote cluster.
  • Cluster workers: run the albertogarob/whistlerlib image. R + libraries baked in. R-bridge methods just work when called against this cluster.

So:

  • ✅ pip install whistlerlib → client-side, alt-python methods, no R required.
  • ✅ pip install whistlerlib + connect to a Dask cluster running albertogarob/whistlerlib → full surface including R-bridge.
  • ❌ pip install whistlerlib + R installed manually on the host → not a supported configuration. We don't test it; don't go there.

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