Inconsistent behavior of format = "flat" between find-links and index-url in uv tool run #16051
Description
Question
I'm experiencing inconsistent behavior with format = "flat" between find-links and index-url when using uv tool run.
When installing and running an offline package using command-line flags with find-links, the tool fails to find the installed package:
❯ uv tool install --offline -n --no-config -f temp pip@25.0
Resolved 1 package in 2ms
Prepared 1 package in 71ms
Installed 1 package in 109ms
+ pip==25.0
Installed 3 executables: pip, pip3, pip3.12
❯ uv tool run --offline -n --no-config --from pip pip --version
× No solution found when resolving tool dependencies:
╰─▶ Because pip was not found in the cache and you require pip, we can conclude that your requirements are unsatisfiable.
hint: Packages were unavailable because the network was disabled. When the network is disabled, registry packages may only be read from the cache.If I continue using -f to specify the path, it temporarily runs the pip package from the temp directory instead of the installed one:
❯ uv tool run --offline -n --no-config -f temp --from pip pip --version
Installed 1 package in 126ms
pip 25.2 ...However, when using a uv.toml configuration file with index-url and format = "flat", everything works correctly:
# uv.toml
[[index]]
name = "local"
url = 'temp'
format = "flat"❯ uv tool install --offline -n --config-file uv.toml pip@25.0
Resolved 1 package in 2ms
Prepared 1 package in 71ms
Installed 1 package in 109ms
+ pip==25.0
Installed 3 executables: pip, pip3, pip3.12
❯ uv tool run --offline -n --config-file uv.toml --from pip pip --version
pip 25.0 from ...Comparing the uv-receipt.toml files reveals the difference:
# From: uv tool install --offline -n --no-config -f temp pip@25.0
[tool.options]
find-links = ["..."]# From: uv tool install --offline -n --config-file uv.toml pip@25.0
[tool.options]
index = [
{ name = "local", url = "...", explicit = false, default = false, format = "flat", authenticate = "auto" },
]In my opinion, The behavior should be consistent between these two approaches.
Platform
Windows 11 x86_64
Version
uv 0.8.22 (ade2bdb 2025-09-23)