PyCharm 2019.2 Help

Configure a virtual environment

PyCharm makes it possible to use the virtualenv tool to create a project-specific isolated virtual environment. The main purpose of virtual environments is to manage settings and dependencies of a particular project regardless of other Python projects. virtualenv tool comes bundled with PyCharm, so the user doesn't need to install it.

Create a virtual environment

  1. Ensure that you have downloaded and installed Python on your computer.

  2. Open the Add Python Interpreter dialog by either way:

    • When you're in the Editor, the most convenient way is to use the Python Interpreter widget in the status bar. Click the widget and select Add Interpreter ...

    • Open the Settings / Preferences Dialog by pressing Ctrl+Alt+S or by choosing File | Settings for Windows and Linux or PyCharm | Preferences for macOS.

      In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Project <project name> | Project Interpreter. Click the The Configure project interpreter icon and select Add.

  3. 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.

    3. Select the Inherit global site-packages checkbox if you want to inherit your global site-packages directory. This checkbox corresponds to the --system-site-packages option of the virtualenv tool.

    4. Select the Make available to all projects checkbox, if needed.

    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 checkbox Make available to all projects, if needed.

  4. Click OK to complete the task.

You can create as many virtual environments as required. To easily tell them from each other, use different names.

For any of the configured Python interpreters, you can:

Last modified: 6 November 2019