Installation

Requirements

This project requires Python 3.10+.

Platform Prerequisites

Ubuntu/Linux

From a fresh Ubuntu 20.04 system and up, running the client from source requires git, pip and libraries for the Qt GUI:

sudo apt install git python3-pip libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-cursor0
pip3 install --upgrade pip

Setting udev permissions

Using Crazyradio on Ubuntu/Linux requires that you set udev permissions. See the cflib installation guide for more information.

Windows

Install Python 3 using the official Python build from python.org. Make sure to check the “add to path” checkbox during installation. Verify the installation by opening a cmd or PowerShell terminal:

python --version
pip --version

Upgrade pip:

pip install --upgrade pip

Install Git from the official Git website. Make sure it is in PATH, which can be verified with:

git --version

If you’re using Python 3.13, you need to install Visual Studio. During the installation process, you only need to select the Desktop Development with C++ workload in the Visual Studio Installer.

Install Crazyradio drivers

To use Crazyradio you will need to install the drivers.

macOS

The client requires macOS 11 (Big Sur) or more recent. It works on both x86 and Apple Silicon Macs.

The client works with both the Apple-provided Python 3 (as long as it is Python >= 3.10) and with Python installed via Homebrew.

Raspberry Pi

The client requires Raspberry Pi Trixie or more recent. On Raspberry Pi Trixie it is required to create a Python venv to install the client. The client GUI works on both the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5, but it is recommended to be used on a Raspberry Pi 5.

USB permissions need to be set as described above for Ubuntu/Linux.

Which method should I choose?

Just trying it out? Use the Quick Start with uvx.
Regular user? Use Standard Installation.
Developer? Use Development Installation.

Quick Start (Recommended)

The easiest way to run the client is with uvx, which automatically handles installation and always runs the latest version:

Install uv by following the official installation guide.
Run the client:
```
uvx cfclient
```

This method requires no manual installation or virtual environment setup. The client runs directly and cleans up afterward.

Standard Installation

For regular use or if you prefer a permanent installation, install from PyPI using pip.

Create and activate a Python virtual environment to isolate dependencies. See the official Python venv documentation for setup instructions.
Install the client using pip, either by running:
```
 pip install cfclient
```
or, for macOS specifically:
```
 python3 -m pip install cfclient
```
After installation, run the client with:
```
 cfclient
```
or
```
 python3 -m cfclient.gui
```

Development Installation (From Source)

If you are planning to do development work with the cfclient, install from source.

Clone the repository

 git clone https://github.com/bitcraze/crazyflie-clients-python
 cd crazyflie-clients-python

Create and activate a Python virtual environment to isolate dependencies. See the official Python venv documentation for setup instructions.
Install the client from source

For basic installation:
```
 pip install -e .
```
For development (includes additional tools):
```
 pip install -e .[dev]
```
After installation, run the client with:
```
 cfclient
```

Note: Avoid running pip with sudo, as this would install dependencies system-wide and could cause compatibility problems. If pip requests administrator password, you should run the command with --user (for example python3 -m pip install --user -e .). This should not be required on modern Python distributions though since the --user flag seems to be the default behavior.

Development Tools (Optional)

Pre-commit hooks

If you want help maintaining Python coding standards, you can install hooks that verify your style at commit time:

pip install pre-commit
cd crazyflie-clients-python
pre-commit install
pre-commit run --all-files

This will run the lint checkers defined in .pre-commit-config-yaml on your proposed changes and alert you if you need to change anything.

Working with the GUI .ui files

You can edit the .ui files for the GUI with QtCreator. For Windows and Mac you can download the Qt development kit from the Qt website. On Linux QtCreator is usually available as package, for example on Ubuntu it can be installed with sudo apt install qtcreator.

Debugging the client from an IDE

It is convenient to be able to set breakpoints, examine variables and so on from an IDE when debugging the client. To get this to work you need to run the python module cfclient.gui as the debug target in the IDE.

In VSCode for instance, the launch.json should look something like this:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Crazyflie client",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "module": "cfclient.gui"
        },
    ]
}

As noted earlier, it is common that work on the client also involve work in the crazyflie-lib-python. The launch.json documented here can also be used in the crazyflie lib project to debug lib-related code.