Install zuban with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• zmypy
• zuban

Project history

The ZubanLS homepage frames the project as a successor to lessons learned from Jedi. Halter says he created Jedi in 2012, then started over in 2020 to build ZubanLS in Rust after concluding that Jedi's architecture could not provide the performance needed for large projects.

Zuban became an open-source developer tool with a CLI and language server. Its README describes a high-performance Python language server and type checker, supporting diagnostics, completions, goto, references, rename, hover, document highlights, a Pyright-like default mode, and a mypy-compatible mode.

The documentation and changelog show rapid maturation through the 2025 beta and 2026 releases, especially around editor integration, sys.path handling, Django support, typed Python conformance, and mode selection between default and mypy-compatible behavior.

Adoption history

Zuban's adoption niche is emerging rather than settled: it enters a crowded Python static-analysis field that includes mypy, Pyright/Pylance, basedpyright, ty, Pyrefly, Jedi, and editor-specific integrations. Its practical pitch is speed plus compatibility rather than a new type system.

The package is designed for developer workstations and editors. The docs cover installation with pip, direct use as zuban check or zuban mypy, the zmypy alias, and configuration for VSCode, Vim, Neovim, Helix, Zed, Emacs, Kate, and Sublime Text.

How it is used

Command-line users run zuban check for the default mode, zuban mypy or zmypy for mypy-compatible behavior, and zuban server for LSP integration. Configuration is read from pyproject.toml and mypy.ini, including [tool.zuban], [tool.mypy], mypy_path, and many mypy-compatible options.

Editor users configure the zuban or zubanls command as a Python language server. The docs describe LSP initialization options such as typeCheckingMode, disableLanguageServices, diagnosticMode, and pythonExecutable.

Why package nerds care

Zuban is package-nerd significant because it shows the current packaging shape of Python tooling: a Rust implementation shipped as a Python-installable command, exposing both CLI and editor-server workflows, while reading existing Python project config files.

It also represents the modern pressure on language tooling packages to be drop-in enough for existing mypy users while fast enough to compete with native editor language servers.

Timeline

• 2012: David Halter created Jedi, the project ZubanLS explicitly cites as its predecessor experience.
• 2020: Halter began building ZubanLS from the ground up in Rust.
• 2025-10-10: Zuban 0.1.0 beta release recorded in the changelog.
• 2026-04-06: Zuban 0.7.0 changed default/mypy mode behavior and improved Django and LSP support.
• 2026-06-23: Zuban 0.9.0 changelog entry records mode-selection fixes and additional mypy-compatible options.

Related projects

• Related projects include Jedi, mypy, Pyright, Pylance, basedpyright, ty, Pyrefly, typeshed, Python LSP clients, VSCode, Neovim, Helix, Zed, Emacs, Kate, and Sublime Text.

Sources

• https://docs.zubanls.com/en/latest/
• https://docs.zubanls.com/en/latest/changelog.html
• https://docs.zubanls.com/en/latest/installation.html
• https://docs.zubanls.com/en/latest/usage.html
• https://github.com/zubanls/zuban
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zubanls/zuban/master/README.md
• https://zubanls.com/