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Review
. 2025 Jul 11;6(7):101311.
doi: 10.1016/j.patter.2025.101311.

Pyomo: Accidentally outrunning the bear

Miranda Mundt  1 , William E Hart  1 , Emma S Johnson  1 , Bethany Nicholson  1 , John D Siirola  1
Affiliations
Review

Pyomo: Accidentally outrunning the bear

Miranda Mundt et al. Patterns (N Y). .

Abstract

Pyomo is an open-source optimization modeling software that has undergone significant evolution since its inception in 2008. Pyomo has evolved to enhance flexibility, solver integration, and community engagement. Modern collaborative tools for open-source software have facilitated the development of new Pyomo functionality and improved our development process through automated testing and performance-tracking pipelines. However, Pyomo faces challenges typical of research software, including resource limitations and knowledge retention. The Pyomo team's commitment to better development practices and community engagement reflects a proactive approach to these issues. We describe Pyomo's development journey, highlighting both successes and failures, in the hopes that other open-source research software packages may benefit from our experiences.

Keywords: automation; development; open-source; optimization; software.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

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    1. Hart W.E., Laird C.D., Watson J.P., Woodruff D.L. Vol. 67. Springer; 2012. (Pyomo-optimization Modeling in Python).

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