Make it Easy to Do the Right Thing with WWBD

This functionality is now part of the standard Python extension - check it out!

The Problem

If you’re like me, you know that even for small Python projects and scripts, you should be using a virtual environment. There are a gazillion reasons for this, most of which have been covered effectively elsewhere.

This post is aimed at those of you who know you should be using venvs for your one-off apartment-hunt screenscraper/fantasy football stat aggregator/*gasp* real work script but don’t because, let’s face it, the typical venv workflow is not as simple as it could be (was that /Scripts/Activate.ps1 or scripts/activate.ps1??).

Lord, make me a good venv user, but not yet

WWBD to the Rescue

Lately, I’ve been living up to my venv ideals almost entirely due to a little experimental VS Code extension called WWBD - What Would Brett Do?

Jesus, in this formulation, has been replaced by Python Jesus/Python core developer Brett Cannon, who has spent quite a bit of time thinking about Python packaging, environment strategy, and developer best practices. He’s now allowing us live a day (ok, fine, maybe just a second) in the life via this extension, which essentially automates venv creation, activation, and VS Code integration according to his virtual environment philosophy.

Kind of like a Python ride-along

The Caveats

Before people get grumpy, as people on the internet are wont to do, here are some caveats that the project itself is upfront about:

• The extension is experimental and may be swallowed by standard VS Code functionality someday
• The venv strategy is opinionated; if you are using for a large project or have complicated needs, you may want to take the extra 5 minutes to control/customize your own process instead of relying on this extension
• the selected Python interpreter must have venv and pip available/installed (it has been included in Python binaries by default since Python 3.4)
• Only works when there is one clear workspace selected

The Steps

1. Install the “WWBD” extension from the VS Code marketplace
2. To initiate a project, open the workspace, launch the Command Pallette, and type “WWBD: Create Environment”

That’s it! Notice that a venv has been created, your workspace is using it to run code by default, and it is successfully added to your .gitignore so it’s not being tracked by source control.

For more details on what’s going on behind the scenes and why, you can refer to the extension documentation/source code or Brett’s post on virtual environment strategy, which I believe mirrors his approach in this extension pretty well.

Hidden Gem

This is already pretty cool. But as an added bonus, if you already have a requirements.txt file in your workspace, those dependencies will automatically be installed into your new venv.

That means if you have been working on a project using your global Python interpreter before you saw the error of your ways, you can pipe pip freeze to a requirements.txt file and be all set to go in your new, enlightened life.

Bonus: PIP_REQUIRE_VIRTUALENV

If you become rigid and dogmatic in your approach to venvs, as all good converts do, you can set the PIP_REQUIRE_VIRTUALENV environment variable to true; try to pip install after doing so will fail if a virtual environment is not activated.

No self-flagellation required.