Python

The Python provider tracks the CPython releases published at python.org, reading the downloads API (python.org/api/v2/downloads/release/) that lists every release. It resolves the bare interpreter version, such as a PYTHON_VERSION CI variable, a mise python pin, or a ruff/black target-version in pyproject.toml. A python:3.14-slim container tag is a Docker image, handled by the Docker provider.

# clover: provider=python constraint=minor
PYTHON_VERSION: 3.14.6

Keys

The downloads API is public, so the Python provider needs no authentication. It is selected explicitly with provider=python, or inferred from a target-version or requires-python line in pyproject.toml, a python pin in a mise configuration, or a pyenv .python-version file. A requires-python floor is bumped in place, so ">=3.14" keeps its operator and precision, and a range like ">=3.10,<4" is skipped as ambiguous. A .python-version file has no comment syntax to host a directive, so it is tracked through a sidecar (which clover annotate generates) or updated by clover run --infer.

Each release name carries a Python prefix (Python 3.14.6). Clover parses out the version so the resolved value is clean semver (3.14.6), matching a bare on-line reference. The API carries each release’s publication date, so cooldown works: a version is held back until it has aged past the window. The whole release history arrives in one response, so Clover always sees every release and --deep has nothing extra to fetch.

Prereleases

Python alphas, betas, and release candidates are published with a dashless suffix (3.15.0b3, 3.14.0rc1). Clover normalizes these to canonical semver (3.15.0-b3) internally, so they order and gate like any other prerelease, excluded by default and selected only when prereleases are allowed. A bump keeps the spelling already on the line, so a dashless pin stays dashless and remains valid for the Python tools that read it:

# clover: provider=python prerelease=true
PYTHON_VERSION: 3.15.0b3

Compact target versions

Ruff, Black, and mypy write a compact target in pyproject.toml, py followed by the major and minor with no dot (py314 for Python 3.14). Clover recognizes this form, tracks the corresponding minor line, and renders the result back into the same compact form:

# clover: provider=python
target-version = "py314"

A bump to Python 3.15 rewrites it to py315. A patch release within the same minor line leaves it unchanged, since the compact form carries only the minor. An array of targets (["py311", "py312"]) is left alone, since which one to track is ambiguous.

Checksums are not sourced for Python releases: the downloads API lists releases without per-file digests, so there is no digest to follow.