Package Scout
Package Scout is a powerful VS Code extension that automates the creation and maintenance of your Python project's requirements.txt file. It intelligently scans your code for imports, filters out standard libraries, and generates a clean, comprehensive list of dependencies, so you can focus on coding.
Say goodbye to manually managing your requirements.txt!
All packages will be installed in a Python virtual environment, and a command will be provided to activate it.
Usage
- Install the extension in VS Code.
- Open or create a Python project.
- Save any Python file (.py) in that project directory.
- The extension will automatically generate/update
requirements.txt in the background.
- The extension also creates a Python virtual environment for the project and installs all the dependencies listed in
requirements.txt.
Features
Package Scout is packed with features designed to make Python dependency management seamless and efficient.
1. Autoamtic Creation of requirements.txt
Simply save any Python file (Ctrl+S), and Package Scout will automatically analyze your project's dependencies and update your requirements.txt file.
Tip: This feature can be easily toggled on or off directly from the status bar.
2. Analysis of Entire Project Directory
Instead of just looking at one file, Package Scout scans your entire workspace to build a complete list of all dependencies used across your project. It's smart enough to ignore virtual environments, .git folders, and other excluded directories.
3. Intelligent Import Analysis
The extension uses comprehensive patterns to detect imports in various forms, including:
- Standard imports (
import pandas)
- 'From' imports (
from matplotlib import pyplot)
- Aliased imports (
import numpy as np)
- Complex multi-line imports
4. Intelligent Packet Matching
Package Scout knows that when you import bs4, the package you need is beautifulsoup4. It comes with a built-in mapping for common packages whose import names differ from their PyPI package names.
5. Virtual Environment Setup and Auto-Install
Package Scout can create a Python virtual environment for your project and automatically install all dependencies listed in requirements.txt.
- Checks if the Python
venv module is available and uses it, falls back to virtualenv if necessary.
- Creates a
.venv folder in your project root if none exists.
- Installs all required dependencies from
requirements.txt.
- Provides a one-click option to copy the activation command to your clipboard.
This feature removes the need for manual virtual environment creation and dependency installation.
6. Intuitive Status Bar
Quickly see if auto-generation is active or disabled. The status bar item also provides a handy tooltip with performance stats and acts as a one-click toggle.
7. On Demand Commands
Prefer manual control? Use the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) to trigger analysis for the current file or the entire project whenever you need it.
Extension Settings
Package Scout is highly configurable. You can adjust its behavior in your VS Code settings:
- Enable/disable automatic generation on file save.
analyzeEntireProject Property, If true, scans the entire project on save. If false, only scans the saved file.- Show notifications when
requirements.txt is updated.
- The name of the requirements file to generate. (Default:
requirements.txt)
- Modify the list of excluded directories (
e.g., .git, .venv) that Package Scout will ignore during analysis.
Known Issues
- Dynamic Imports: The extension uses static analysis and may not detect dependencies imported dynamically using methods like
__import__() or importlib.
- Environment Dependency: Version detection relies on the pip command available in your terminal's path. It may not reflect the versions in a specific virtual environment if it's not activated in the terminal VS Code uses.
Release Notes
1.0.8
- Added feature to only update the package installation in virtual environment if
requirements.txt is updated.
- Added feature to ignore all the user created python package (i.e. If user does any import from local files, ignore them from listing into
requirements.txt)
- Existing features remain:
- automatic virtual environment creation (
.venv) if one does not exist.
- automatic installation of dependencies from
requirements.txt.
- Automatic requirements.txt generation on file save.
- Manual generation commands for single files or the entire project.
- Intelligent import parsing, including multi-line statements.
- Smart mapping from import names to PyPI package names.
- Filtering of Python's built-in standard library modules.
- Optional package version pinning via pip.
- Configurable settings for tailored behavior.
- Helpful status bar indicator for quick toggling and stats.
If you experience any issues or bugs, please report them to me using this Google Form.
