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Installing packages and dependencies

Domino is pre-installed with many common libraries, so we recommend that you first try running your code before customizing your configuration. If you need to, there are specific ways to add your own dependencies for… If you have more specialized dependencies, please let us know.

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Persistent installations

By default, Domino runs each of your scripts (or interactive sessions) from a fresh environment. I.e., any packages you install, will install each time. We have more advanced functionality for managing your own compute environments with software changes that stay permanently installed. Learn more about custom environments.

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Python

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Checking what’s already installed

Many common modules are installed by default. To get a list of pre-installed modules, you can include help(‘modules’) at the start of your script or in a new IPython Notebook session. Or using the Domino CLI tool, you can run: domino run —direct “pip freeze”

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Adding your own packages

To specify your own additional dependencies, you can use ‘pip’ with Domino. To specify module dependencies for your project, add a ‘pip requirements file’ named ‘requirements.txt’ to the root of your project folder. The requirements file specifies which libraries and any version requirements for them. An example:
For a full reference on the syntax of the requirements file, read this. If you’re using pip on your local machine, the easiest way to generate the ‘requirements.txt’ file is to run the following command in the root of your project folder:
For performance reasons, you should prune that file so that it includes only the libraries you need for your actual analysis. Alternatively, if you’re working in a Jupyter Notebook, you can also use pip to install dependencies interactively. In a notebook cell, you can run
(The ’!’ tells the notebook to execute the cell as a shell command)

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Installing Packages Hosted from a Git Repository

Warning: this is an advanced topic! Pip can install Python packages from source by cloning a public Git repository over https. For full reference, see here. To specify this, you will need to add something like the following line to your ‘requirements.txt’ file:
The most common host of Git projects is GitHub. If the package you wish to install is publicly accessible, then the instructions above will work. However, if you need to install any private repositories, Domino can securely integrate with GitHub to access those private repositories. Never embed your GitHub credentials directly in the requirements.txt file. Instead, integrate Domino with GitHub securely.

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R

If you’re using Domino for R scripts, you may also want to check out our R Package for controlling Domino in your R IDE. Most common packages are installed by default (you can include “installed.packages()” at the start of your script to print out a list of installed packages). If you need additional packages, you can use R’s built-in package manager to install and load them: simply add “install.packages” calls for any packages your code needs to the top of your R scripts, e.g.,
These package installation calls must be at the top of every R script that Domino runs. If your packages take a long time to install, we recommend that you create a custom compute environment for efficiency.
Last modified on October 12, 2026