Python Env Manager

Lightweight pyenv environment switcher for VS Code and Cursor — sidebar tree, status bar indicator, terminal activation, and health check.

Features

Sidebar — Environment List

Open the Python Environments panel in the Activity Bar to see all pyenv environments at a glance.

• Active environment is listed first with a ✓ mark
• Virtualenvs and base versions are grouped and sorted
• Click an inactive environment to switch to it
• Expand any environment to browse its installed packages (name + version)

Status Bar

The current environment is always visible in the status bar:

🐍 novel (3.13.8)

Click it to open the environment switcher.

Inline Actions (per environment)

Commands

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) to access:

Create Virtual Environment

Click the + button in the Environments panel toolbar, or run the command from the palette.

pyenv virtualenv flow:

1. Select base Python version
2. Enter a name
3. Environment is created at ~/.pyenv/versions/<version>/envs/<name> and appears in the list automatically

Python venv flow:

1. Select base Python interpreter
2. Enter path (defaults to <workspace>/.venv)
3. Environment is created with python -m venv

Health Check

Runs a full diagnosis of the current interpreter:

1. Verifies the interpreter path exists on disk
2. Shows Python version
3. Lists all installed packages
4. Compares against requirements.txt — missing packages are listed and the pip install command is copied to clipboard on selection

Requirements

• pyenv installed (~/.pyenv or custom PYENV_ROOT)
• VS Code ^1.85.0 or Cursor

Extension Settings

This extension reads python.defaultInterpreterPath (set by the official Python extension) and writes it when you switch environments. No additional settings required.

Known Issues

• Package list is fetched with pip list on first expand and cached until Refresh is clicked
• Only pyenv-managed environments are shown; conda/venv outside pyenv are not detected

Release Notes

0.2.5

• Create virtual environments via pyenv virtualenv or python -m venv directly from the sidebar + button

0.2.4

• Optimized icon with proper padding and official Python colors

0.2.3

• Environments are now expandable to show installed packages
• "Activate in Terminal" always opens a new terminal window named after the environment

0.2.2

• Initial public release
• Sidebar tree, status bar, health check, fix getEnvironment error