Pipimport automatically installs missing modules using pip at import time. It is best used with virtualenv. Just import pipimport and call install(): >>> import pipimport >>> pipimport.install() Now you can normally import modules that are not currently installed. Pipimport will call pip (form your virtualenv) and install it before importing. >>> import unipath Will install module unipath Downloading/unpacking unipath Downloading Unipath-1.0.tar.gz Running setup.py egg_info for package unipath Installing collected packages: unipath Running setup.py install for unipath Successfully installed unipath Cleaning up... >>> unipath <module 'unipath' from '/home/carles/Projectes/piphook/ve/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/unipath/__init__.pyc'> The modules that can't be found are remembered so sequential imports don't try to download them again. This list is saved in the virtualenv directory ( sys.prefix ) or in the working directory (the first with writing permissions) with the name of .pipimport-ignore . The list is loaded in subsequent sessions.