Installation

We currently support Python versions 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, and 3.14.
The Causal Testing Framework can be installed through conda-forge (recommended), the Python Package Index (PyPI), or directly from source (recommended for contributors).

Note

We recommend you use a 64-bit OS (standard in most modern machines) as we have had reports of the installation crashing on legacy 32-bit Debian systems.

Method 1: Installing via conda-forge (Recommended)

We recommend using conda or mamba for installation, as they provide better dependency management and environment isolation. Some of our dependencies (most notably scipy) can be tricky to install on Windows as they require certain system dependencies. Anaconda alleviates most of these installation issues.

First, create a new conda environment with a supported Python version, e.g:

conda create -n causal-testing-env python=3.13
conda activate causal-testing-env

Note

If you have Miniforge installed, you can replace conda with mamba in any of the commands below for faster package resolution.

Add the conda-forge channel:

conda config --add channels conda-forge
conda config --set channel_priority strict

Install causal-testing-framework:

conda install causal-testing-framework

Method 2: Installing via pip

If you prefer using pip or need the development packages, you can install from PyPI.

To install the Causal Testing Framework using pip for the latest stable version:

pip install causal-testing-framework

This provides all core functionality needed to perform causal testing, including support for causal DAGs, various estimation methods, and test case generation.

If you also want to install the framework with (optional) development packages/tools:

pip install causal-testing-framework[dev]

Method 3: Installing via Source (For Developers/Contributors)

If you’re planning to contribute to the project or need an editable installation for development, you can install directly from source:

git clone https://github.com/CITCOM-project/CausalTestingFramework
cd CausalTestingFramework

then, to install a specific release:

git fetch --all --tags --prune
git checkout tags/<tag> -b <branch>
pip install . # For core API only
pip install -e . # For editable install, useful for development work

e.g. version 1.0.0:

git fetch --all --tags --prune
git checkout tags/1.0.0 -b version
pip install .

or to install the latest development version:

pip install .

To also install developer tools:

pip install -e .[dev]

Verifying Your Installation

After installation, verify that the framework is installed correctly in your environment:

python -c "import causal_testing; print(causal_testing.__version__)"

Next Steps

Read the quick start guides for Causal Testing and Causal Discovery.
Check out tutorials to learn how to use the framework.

Run the following commands for guidance on the various commands and parameter option

causal-testing --help # To see the available commands
causal-testing generate --help # To see how to generate your causal tests from your DAG
causal-testing test --help # To see how to execute your causal tests
causal-testing discover --help # To see how to discover causal structures from your data