Start Setting Up Your Development Environment

Do you know how to set the interpreter like that for VS code? I recently tried this IDE out and like the bundled terminal with it, but i also got into Sublime awhile back after Dan mentioned it’s awesomeness.

There are a couple of great resources on VSCode here on Real Python. It’s definitely been gaining popularity and is quite similar to Sublime Text, if you’re already familiar with that one.

two questions: 1. can you create the virtual environment just using pycharm? or do i have to do it outside of pycharm and then import if needed? 2. when i start pycharm it shows python 3 with Django. Do i have to create the environment as shown or is it built in with Pycharm?

Hi @Kevin Walsh. PyCharm can automatically create a venv for you when you start up a new project.

If you say New Project instead of Open you get to a dialog where you only need to click on Create and the virtual environment will be made for you by PyCharm.

Also check out the walkthrough regarding that here in our PyCharm section of the Editor Course.

I am stuck with how I can set up pycharm environment.

What are you stuck with @fredmord? Did you check out the resource I linked above? I’m happy to try to help, so please send me some more info so we can try to tackle the issue :)

source .env/bin/activate. does not work in Windows. Does someone have a recommendation how we solve this in Windows 10 ? Thanks!

Hi Tom, on Windows you should use something like the following instead:

C:\> venv\Scripts\activate.bat

Ref: realpython.com/get-started-with-django-1/#set-up-your-development-environment

Hi Tom.

If you are using cmd (Command Prompt) then use Geir’s suggestion above. However, if you are using Powershell, the use activate.ps1 instead if activate.bat at the end of your path.

I am confused. don’t know either you are using mac or windows for your tutorials. I’m completely stuck on how to set up the environment. Do I have use the Terminal or Pycharm?

How do I create a virtual environment? Can’t I use pycharm to learn the tutorials?

Hi @fredmord. There are different ways to get to the same goal, you can do it through your OS’s terminal or let PyCharm do the work.

For simplicity’s sake, I’d suggest you to use PyCharm. It automatically sets up a new virtual environment for you when you start a new project.

So just start a new project, verify that you can see the virtual environment folder as visible in the video I linked, and that when you open your PyCharm terminal, you can also see that the virtual environment is activated. This is also shown in the linked video.

Hope that helps! If you want to dive deeper and understand what virtual environments are about, why they are recommended to use, how to set them up etc., please check out the article on virtual environments that is also posted at the top of this page.

Okay, thank you. Then I will follow your video and use pycharm to learn.

At pycharm I chose new project from file menu and I selected Django

“projects can either be opened in a new window or replace the project in a existing window or be attached to the already opened projects.” “How would you like to open the project?” This Window. New Window. Attach. Cancel.

The above is what I found when I started iniated a new project from pycharm.

Thank you.

(venv) C:\Users\hp\PycharmProjects\untitled>

Please the above was what I found in my terminal.

Looks okay @fredmord. Only thing is that it seems you didn’t input a name for your Django project, so it is called untitled.

You could try to make a new one and give it a name, e.g. django-porfolio and select to open it in This Window.

Your terminal prompt shows that PyCharm successfully created a virtual environment called venv for you and that it is activated:

(venv) C:\Users\hp\PycharmProjects\untitled>

^^ the (venv) part at the beginning indicates that all went well.

You can now install Django:

(venv) C:\Users\hp\PycharmProjects\untitled> pip install django

although it might already be installed, since you explicitly started a Django project with PyCharm, and therefore PyCharm might have already done also that for you.

In short: You’re good to go. :)

I am grateful sir.

Hi, when I tried to do

(.env) zhou@TJ-MacBook-Pro django-portfolio % pip install django

It showed the following message, I don’t know what to do to fix it.

/Users/zhou/Desktop/Personal-projects/django-portfolio/.env/bin/pip: line 2: /Users/zhou/Desktop/Personal Projects/django-portfolio/.env/bin/python3: No such file or directory
/Users/zhou/Desktop/Personal-projects/django-portfolio/.env/bin/pip: line 2: exec: /Users/zhou/Desktop/Personal Projects/django-portfolio/.env/bin/python3: cannot execute: No such file or directory

Hello @TJ, looks to me like you might have deleted your virtual environment?

Double check that the .env folder exists in your current directory and that it contains a bin/ folder that again contains the python3 executable.

The error message currently tells you that it can’t find the python3 executable, which is why the install command fails.

You can delete and re-create the virtual environment in case something is missing in there.

Hi Martin,

When setting up the virtual environment, ‘python3’ is not recognized.

I’m on Windows 10, and am using Powershell through Anaconda. I referenced here for the setup.

Is it okay to use python -m venv .env instead? Or will that default to an older version of python?

Hi Bill.

The whole python3 thing is for UNIX based machine. In windows we have it a little easier, we just use the python command. This will use the default version of python. If you have several version installed on your machine, you can check the default version with python --version.

For your virtual env, you can use the python -m venv .env command without issue. Again it will use your default python version. Python 2 does not come pre-installed on windows as it does with UNIX operating systems, so we don’t have to deal with that incompatibility.

Hope that helps.

Hi Ricky,

Worked, thanks! I’ve set up the venv, but am unable to activate it. I see above there is a thread about activation on Windows.

I tried the following line (changed the venv name to virtual_env because I’m a hopeless noob)

virtual_env\Scripts\activate.ps1

Which lead to a Fully Qualified Error ID: Could not auto load module.

REsearched it some more and found this instruction, just want to make sure I’m on track?

*On Microsoft Windows, it may be required to enable the Activate.ps1 script by setting the execution policy for the user. You can do this by issuing the following PowerShell command:

PS C:> Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser*

Hi all,

I’m unable to load the virtual environment. (Using Windows 10.)

1. I created the django_portforlio folder as Martin instructed in the video
2. Created ‘virtual_env’ (instead of venv)
3. Set the Execution Policy to Unrestricted for CurrentUser, and then confirmed it using Get-ExecutionPolicy -List
4. In djagno_portfolio, I tried virtual_env\Scripts\activate.ps1 and got error –> “virtual_env could not be loaded” (+ FullyQualifiedErrorId: CouldNotAutoLoadModule
5. cd’d to the .virtual_env folder
6. Tried virtual_env\Scripts\activate.ps1 again and got same error

NEXT STEP - Now that the ExecutionPolicy is unrestricted, should I start over from scratch?

NOTE - I’m signed in as admin in PowerShell

Thanks! Bill

Hi Bill. When you renamed the env did you do so by just changing the name of the folder? Or did you create it with your preferred name from the start? i.e. Did you type python -m venv virtual_env?

You shouldn’t need to adjust the privileges if it’s your own machine? Are you using a work/school computer?

Hi Ricky,

I was on my work pc (had my manager’s blessing but didn’t have admin rights). Switched to my personal laptop and it works fine.

Thanks! Bill

Glad we got to the bottom of it :)

Hi Martin,

I’m using Atom on Mac. I was successfully able to get the folder created and go through all the steps to create the virtual environment. But I’ve gotten stuck now at the point where you have the terminal within your IDE displaying “(.env) martin@realpython$”, and Atom doesn’t have the same preferences to change like you did in the video. Is there an easy way to change the path within the terminal of Atom so that it also gives the (.env) path?

Thanks!!

Hi @99janna, to see that prompt you will need to activate the virtual environment that you created. You can do this in the same way as described in the video inside of the terminal that is included with VSCode.

You can acces the integrate terminal in VSCode by pulling up from the bottom of your window, or by using the menu items or shortcuts described in their official docs on the Integrated Terminal.

You can learn more in our VSCode Setup Guide and the associated video tutorial.

The command to activate your virtual environment is:

source <your_venv_name>/bin/activate

Hope that helps! :)

Hi. For some reason I got a command not found error when trying to run django-admin.

I’m using zsh on Mac; I uninstalled Django with pip, installed again with sudo pip install django and it worked fine.

Keep getting “System cannot find the path specified” on command prompt on windows when I try to activate. Any help please?

Will course be updated for Django 3, and if I am using django 3 what are differences for me? Thank you

Hi Marijan, we’re currently not planning to update it to Django 3, frankly because there would be nothing that you need to do differently for building this app. :)

✨ You should be able to follow this tutorial as-is also on Django 3.

Hi @mathieu01, sorry I missed your comment here!

If there’s someone else stumbling across troubles that might be related to your virtual environment when using Windows, check out some alternatives you can use in A Primer on Virtual Environments and An Effective Python Environment.

Tl;dr:

• Windows is different
• Try using virtualenvwrapper-win

Hope that helps someone!

For those with PyCharm installed already and had issues installing a venv in terminal (outside of pycharm) here was my fix. Keep in mind everything before my created Python folder was my hard drives letter. Yours may be C: or D: or Z:. I will not include the hard drive letter below.

1. Create the directory you want where you want. I made a \Python\RealPython\django-portfolio folder
2. Open PyCharm. File > Open… Open your created folder
3. File > Settings. Project: django-portfolio. Project Interpreter.
4. Cog Wheel. Add… New Environment. Location: \Python\RealPython\django-portfolio\ new folder name it . env.
5. It should look like \Python\RealPython\django-portfolio.env
6. Ok. Apply. Ok.
7. On your django-portfolio folder in your PyCharm project right click and select “Open in terminal”
8. You should see (.env)\Python\RealPython\django-portfolio
9. Type “pip install django” without the quotes and upgrade if needed.

Nice, thanks for posting @Kyle Martin. Here’s another nice Youtube tutorial that walks you over how to create a new virtual environment for your PyCharm project, maybe it helps with some visuals:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8C097f6Hcg

Hi, I am having both 2.7 and 3.7 Python versions in my Windows system. PyCharm is recognizing only 2.7. How can I change it to 3.7?

@SreenivasaRao The recommended practice is to create separate virtual environments for each project. Regardless of your operating system, you can select an existing virtual environment or create a new one in PyCharm. You may also pick one of your system-wide Python interpreters installed globally if you really want. The specific instructions can be found on JetBrains help page.

When setting up the Development environment i have noticed a slight difference in what you type a command in , Visual Studio Code, Linux terminal or PyCharm terminal

What differences did you notice @Patrick and which of the programs are you using?

Hi Guys. I’m using PyCharm. Which way can I create my virtual environment using PyCharm and not the terminal?

@siyalohngcobo There are a few ways to create a new virtual environment in PyCharm. When you make a new project from scratch, the IDE will ask you whether you want to create a new virtual environment or choose an existing one. For a project you have already opened, there will be a dropdown menu in the bottom right corner of the window with options to manage the Python interpreter currently assigned to your project.

Head over to the official documentation for more information about creating and managing virtual environments in PyCharm: www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/creating-virtual-environment.html#python_create_virtual_env

Hello!

I’m getting this error: “Python was not found; run without arguments to install from the Microsoft Store, or disable this shortcut from Settings > Manage App Execution Aliases” when I attempt to start the virtual environment. However, I have Python 3 installed on my computer. Any ideas?

Disregard. I figured it out. I actually didn’t have Python installed and I thought I did. I installed from Microsoft store and not it works fine.

Is there documentation I can use to understand all this? I am confused by the concept of environment and what is to activate? should I now have a folder called “.env” ?

Hello,

I am working through this amazing tutorial on my windows computer, and I am stuck at a roadblock. I have replayed the video multiple times to make sure I didn’t miss a step. The problem is that my terminal is not recognizing the virtual environment I set up on my Django-portfolio folder. I tried the method of going into settings > interpreter > changing the interpreter to python3 inside ‘site-packages’, but python3 is non-existant. Furthermore, Pycharm doesn’t seem to know that I have Django installed (as seen in my terminal, I did!). Here are some photos: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1INfTkeYIBiOzfv8Tn20SUoH0aHnZ6PzL?usp=sharing

Thank you in advance for your help!

@Paula Poblete seems like I missed your question, so this comes too late 😬 but to re-iterate from some earlier comments, we have an in-depth tutorial on virtual environments that should be a good resource for anyone who wants to understand them better.

@Alex Huang like Rick mentioned earlier, the command on Windows is probably python instead of python3 (depends a bit on how you installed Python).

Unfortunately I can’t access the photos you shared on Drive.

Anyways, if PyCharm isn’t recognizing your Django installation, then you probably have the wrong interpreter selected. You can choose the interpreter and set it to the one inside your virtual environment.

Hope this helps!