deprecated GA
Library utility (dbutils.library)
Library utility (dbutils.library) is deprecated, replaced by %pip magic commands (notebook-scoped Python libraries) (deprecated June 2022).
The dbutils module for installing Python libraries from inside a notebook (install, installPyPI, list, updateCondaEnv) into an environment scoped to that notebook session, on both driver and executors.
- installPyPI refused pip-style strings: azureml-sdk[databricks]==1.19.0 was invalid, because the version and extras keys had to be passed as separate arguments.
- The official egg-file workaround for its replacement begins with %pip install of a library that, in the docs' own words, doesn't need to be a real library.
- One command outlived the module - restartPython is still the documented way to restart the Python process, while most other dbutils.library methods are deprecated.
Limitations: Most library utilities were never available on Databricks Runtime ML, library install sources were limited to dbfs and s3, and detaching the notebook destroyed the environment it built.
Open in REbricked →- Category
- Developer experience
- Also known as
- Library utilities, dbutils.library, dbutils.library.installPyPI, dbutils.library.install, dbutils.library.updateCondaEnv
- Verified
- 2026-09-27
Sources
- Official Official Databricks / Microsoft docs
- Official Databricks docs: Notebook-scoped Python libraries (%pip, the recommended replacement)
- Official Databricks Runtime 11.0 release notes (June 2022): the runtime where install and installPyPI are gone
- Official Databricks release notes (June 2019): Library utilities generally available in Databricks Runtime 5.4
- Official Microsoft Learn (archived): Library utility (dbutils.library) (legacy)