IntelliJ IDEA 2021.3 Help

Create an empty Python project

To create an empty project:

  1. From the main menu, choose File | New | Project or on the Welcome screen, click New Project.

    New Project dialog opens.

  2. In the left-hand pane of the New Project dialog, select Python as a project type.

  3. In the right-hand pane, specify the project SDK. If the desired SDK is missing in the list, click New and create one of the following Python SDK:

    1. In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, select Virtualenv Environment. The following actions depend on whether the virtual environment existed before.

      creating a virtual environment

      If New environment is selected:

      1. Specify the location of the new virtual environment in the text field, or click Virtual environment location and find location in your file system. Note that the directory where the new virtual environment should be located, must be empty!

      2. Choose the base interpreter from the list, or click Choose the base interpreter and find a Python executable in the your file system.

        If IntelliJ IDEA detects no Python on your machine, it provides two options: to download the latest Python versions from python.org or to specify a path to the Python executable (in case of non-standard installation).

        Downloading Python when creating a virtual env

      3. Select the Inherit global site-packages checkbox if you want that all packages installed in the global Python on your machine to be added to the virtual environment you're going to create. This checkbox corresponds to the --system-site-packages option of the virtualenv tool.

      4. Select the Make available to all projects checkbox if you want to reuse this environment when creating Python interpreters in IntelliJ IDEA.

      If Existing environment is selected:

      1. Expand the Interpreter list and select any of the existing interpreters. Alternatively, click Select an interpreter and specify a path to the Python executable in your file system, for example, C:\Python36\python.exe.

      2. Select the Make available to all projects checkbox if you want to reuse this environment when creating Python interpreters in IntelliJ IDEA.

    2. Click OK to complete the task.

    1. In the left-handed pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, select Pipenv.

    2. If you have added the user base’s binary directory to your PATH environmental variable, you don't need to set any additional options: the path to the pipenv executable will be autodetected.

      Path to the pipenve executable is autodetected
    3. Click OK to complete the task.

    4. If you have not modified the PATH variable, IntelliJ IDEA shows an error message: Pipenv executable is not found. Discover the proper executable path as described in the pipenv installation procedure and enter the target string in the Pipenv executable field, for example: C:\Users\jetbrains\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python37\Scripts\pipenv.exe (Windows) or /Users/jetbrains/.local/bin/pipenv (macOS).

      Click OK to save the changes and complete the task.

    1. In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, select Conda Environment. The following actions depend on whether the Conda environment existed before.

      Configuring a new Python SDK

      If New environment is selected:

      1. Specify the location of the new Conda environment in the text field, or click Conda environment location and find location in your file system. Note that the directory where the new Conda environment should be located, must be empty!

      2. Select the Python version from the list.

      3. Specify the location of the Conda executable file in the text field, or click Conda executable location and find location in the Conda installation directory. You're basically looking for a path that you've used when installing Conda on your machine.

      4. Select the Make available to all projects checkbox if you want to reuse this environment when creating Python interpreters in IntelliJ IDEA.

      If Existing environment is selected:

      1. Expand the Interpreter list and select any of the existing interpreters. Alternatively, click Select an interpreter and specify a path to the Conda executable in your file system, for example, C:\Users\jetbrains\Anaconda3\python.exe.

      2. Select the Make available to all projects checkbox if you want to reuse this environment when creating Python interpreters in IntelliJ IDEA.

    2. Click OK to complete the task.

    1. In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, select System Interpreter.

      Adding a system interpreter

    2. In the Interpreter field, type the fully-qualified path to the required interpreter executable, or click the Browse button and in the Select Java Interpreter dialog that opens, choose the desired Java executable and click OK.

      If IntelliJ IDEA detects no Python on your machine, it provides two options: to download the latest Python versions from python.org or to specify a path to the Python executable (in case of non-standard installation).

      Downloading Python when installing the system interpreter

      You will need admin privileges to install, remove, and upgrade packages for the system interpreter. When attempting to install an interpreter package through an intention action, you might receive the following error message:

      System Interpreter warning message
      As prompted, consider using a virtual environment for your project.

    3. Click OK to complete the task.

    1. In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, click SSH Interpreter.

    2. In the right-hand pane select New server configuration, then specify server information (host, port, and username).

      adding an interpreter via SSH

      Alternatively, you can select Existing server configuration and choose any available deployment configuration from the list.

      existing configurations

      If needed, click the Browse button to review the Connection settings, Mappings, and Excluded paths for the selected deployment configuration. Click Next to continue configuring an interpreter.

    3. In the next dialog window, provide the authentication details to connect to the target server.

      specifying authentication details

      Select Password or Key pair (OpenSSL or PuTTY) and enter your password or passphrase.

      Click Next to proceed with the final configuration step.

    4. In the next dialog window, verify the path to the desired Java interpreter. You can accept default, or specify a different one. You have to configure the path mappings between your local project and the server. To do that, click the Browse button next to the Sync folders field and enter the path to the local project folder and the path to the folder on the remote server.

      Setting SSH mappings

      You can also select the lowest checkbox to enable automatic upload of the local changes to the remote server.

    1. In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, click Vagrant:

      Add an interpreter
    2. Click the browse button the Browse button next to the field Vagrant instance folder, and specify the desired Vagrant instance folder.

      This results in showing the link to Vagrant host URL.

    3. The Python interpreter path field displays the path to the desired Python executable. You can accept default, or specify a different one.

    4. Click OK. The configured remote interpreter is added to the list.

    In the dialog that opens, select the Docker option, from the drop-down lists select the Docker server (if the server is missing, click New...), and specify the image name: python:latest.

    Python interpreter path should have the default value, for example, python:

    Choose a docker

      Click OK to complete the task.

      In the dialog that opens, select the Docker Compose option, from the drop-down lists select the Docker server, Docker Compose service (here web), configuration file (here docker-compose.yml) and Python interpreter path (here python).

      Configure remote Python interpreter

      Next, wait while IntelliJ IDEA starts your Docker Compose configuration to scan and index:

        Click OK to complete the task.

        To add any of the remote interpreters, ensure that the Vagrant and Docker Integration plugin are installed and enabled. If the plugins are not activated, enable them on the Plugins page of the Settings/Preferences as described in Install plugins.

      1. If needed, select additional libraries and frameworks to enable with the project. When selecting a particular framework, ensure that it is supported by the specified project SDK. Also, provide the required parameters.

      2. Click Next.

      3. On the next page, select the Create project from template checkbox if you want to use a project or framework template for the new Python project.

      4. Specify the project name and location.

      5. Click Finish to complete the task.

      Last modified: 01 August 2022