Auto activate virtual environment in Visual Studio Code

Question

I want VS Code to turn venv on run, but I can't find how to do that. I already tried to add to settings.json this line:

"terminal.integrated.shellArgs.windows": ["source${workspaceFolder}\env\Scripts\activate"]

But, it throws me an 127 error code. I found what 127 code means. It means, Not found. But how it can be not found, if I see my venv folder in my eyes right now?

I think it's terminal fault. I'm using Win 10 with Git Bash terminal, that comes when you install Git to your machine.

Solution 1

This is how I did it in 2021:

1. Enter Ctrl+Shift+P in your vs code.

2. Locate your Virtual Environment:

   Python: select interpreter > Enter interpreter path > Find

3. Once you locate your virtual env select your python version:

   your-virtual-env > bin > python3.

4. Now in your project you will see .vscode directory created open settings.json inside of it and add:

   "python.terminal.activateEnvironment": true

   don't forget to add comma before to separate it with already present key value pair.

5. Now restart the terminal.

You should see your virtual environment activated automatically.

Solution 2

Actually the earlier suggested solutions didn't work for me, instead I added the following in my settings:

"settings": {
    "python.terminal.activateEnvInCurrentTerminal": true,
    "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "~/venv/bin/python"
}

Of course replace the defaultInterpreterPath (used to be pythonPath) setting with your own path (so don't copy/paste the second line).

Solution 3

You don't need this line at all. Just remove it and switch your Python interpreter to point to the one within your venv. Here's a relevant documentation (italicized emphasis mine):

To select a specific environment, use the Python: Select Interpreter command from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P).

... and opening a terminal with the Terminal: Create New Integrated Terminal command. In the latter case, VS Code automatically activated the selected environment.

Once you switch the interpreter VS code should create a .vscode folder within your workspace with a settings.json indicating the python interpreter. This will give VS code the direction of where to locate the venv.

Solution 4

There is a new flag that one can use: "python.terminal.activateEnvironment": true

View more solutions

Comments

[r.ook]

I don't think you need this line at all. Try removing this entire line from your settings and VS Code should handle the workspace venv for you.

[PythonNewbie]

@Krrr yep, it did, but it did on .py file start, not IDE at all as I want

[PythonNewbie]

@Krrr nope, terminal shows line as env is not actived.

[PythonNewbie]

@Krrr yea, in my workspace i have env, .vscode and my project folders.

[Georgi Stoyanov]

this solution requires creating a new terminal to activate the venv, the solution of @moojen is more elegant, activating the venv in the current terminal.

[Doug J. Huras]

This worked for me. However, I did not have to edit the settings.json file. Once I did the "find", I selected my virtual environment python.exe file from a Windows file dialog. I am using virtualenv instead of env. My path is: ".\.venvs\<project folder name>\Scripts\python.exe". Once I closed and re-opened the terminal, it was showing prefix of my <project folder name>. Only my virtual project has nose2 installed and it was recognized in the editor now.

[niid]

"python.terminal.activateEnvironment" is true by default. It will require closing and reopening the default terminal in order to activate the venv.

[niid]

It will still not activate the venv in the terminal unless you create a new Terminal instance.

[Aris Koning]

This works for the built-in terminal. However I have some defined build steps for my Python project. I like to you use VSCode tasks for these. Do you know how to also activate the Python venv for tasks in VSCode?

[thoroc]

If you virtual environment is defined in at the root of the project's directory for the current project you should use: ${workspaceFolder} as the prefix.

[Brian Reinhold]

There was no 'settings.json' file in my .vscode directory. Just argv.json and launch.json