How to configure custom PYTHONPATH with VM and PyCharm?

Question

I am using IntelliJ with the Python plugin and the Remote Interpreter feature to communicate with my Vagrant VM. It sets up the remote interpreter correctly to use my VM's interpreter. But, I use a custom PYTHONPATH in my VM, and I would like IntelliJ to recognize that path and include the modules in that path when developing.

How do I configure IntelliJ/PyCharm's remote interpreter to use a custom PYTHONPATH on the VM?

Solution 1

For PyCharm 5 (or 2016.1), you can:

1. select Preferences > Project Interpreter
2. to the right of interpreter selector there is a "..." button, click it
3. select "more..."
4. pop up a new "Project Interpreters" window
5. select the rightest button (named "show paths for the selected interpreter")
6. pop up a "Interpreter Paths" window
7. click the "+" buttom > select your desired PYTHONPATH directory (the folder which contains python modules) and click OK
8. Done! Enjoy it!

Solution 2

Instructions for editing your PYTHONPATH or fixing import resolution problems for code inspection are as follows:

1. Open Preferences (On a Mac the keyboard short cut is ⌘,).

2. Look for Project Structure in the sidebar on the left under Project: Your Project Name

3. Add or remove modules on the right sidebar

EDIT: I have updated this screen shot for PyCharm 4.5

Solution 3

To me the solution was to go to

Run > Edit Configuration > Defaults > Python

then manage the

• "Add content roots to PYTHONPATH" and
• "Add source root to PYTHONPATH"

checkboxes, as well as setting the "Working directory" field.

If you have set up your own Run/Debug Configurations then you might want to go to

Run > Edit Configuration > Python > [Whatever you called your config]

and edit it there.

My problem was that I wanted to have my whole repository included in my PyCharm 2016.2 project, but only a subfolder was the actual python source code root. I added it as "Source Root" by right clicking the folder then

Mark directory as > Source Root

Then unchecking "Add content roots to PYTHONPATH" and checking "Add source root to PYTHONPATH" in the Run/Debug config menu. I then checked the folder pathing by doing:

import sys
logger.info(sys.path)

This outputed:

[
    '/usr/local/my_project_root/my_sources_root', 
    '/usr/local/my_project_root/my_sources_root', 
    '/usr/lib/python3.4', '/usr/lib/python3.4/plat-x86_64-linux-gnu', 
    '/usr/lib/python3.4/lib-dynload', 
    '/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages', 
    '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages'
]

However, without the fix it said:

[
    '/usr/local/my_project_root/my_sources_root', 
    '/usr/local/my_project_root',                   <-- NOT WANTED
    '/usr/lib/python3.4', 
    '/usr/lib/python3.4/plat-x86_64-linux-gnu', 
    '/usr/lib/python3.4/lib-dynload', 
    '/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages', 
    '/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages'
]

Which meant I got the project root folder included. This messed up the pathing for me.

Solution 4

This was done with PyCharm Community 2019.1

1. Go to Project Settings
2. Go to Project Structure and right click on the directory you want to add and click "Sources"

This should add the directory to your pythonpath

Solution 5

An update to the correct answer phil provided, for more recent versions of Pycharm (e.g. 2019.2).

Go to File > Settings and find your project, then select Project Interpreter. Now click the button with a cog to the right of the selected project interpreter (used to be a ...).

From the drop-down menu select Show All... and in the dialog that opens click the icon with a folder and two sub-folders.

You are presented with a dialog with the current interpreter paths, click on + to add one more.

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