Change PYTHONPATH before debug

[UmeSiyah]

Hello,

I am trying to set the PYTHONPATH and other environment variables before launching the debugger. The PYTHONPATH is being set using a shell script, which I managed to run using a task with the preLaunchTask. However, it seems that the PYTHONPATH set by the tasks.json doesn't persist for the terminal used by the launch.json.

I'm unsure if I could or should achieve this using tasks. What I need is to execute a command that will correctly update my PYTHONPATH before the debugger launches the script, as I have different PYTHONPATH setups that I need to use.

Does anyone have an idea about how I could accomplish this?

Thank you

[brettcannon]

You can set environment variables in your launch.json for each launch configuration. You can also launch the process you want to debug and then have the debugger attach to it.

See https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/debugging for our docs on debugging.

[UmeSiyah]

Is it not possible to set the environment variables for the debugger with a task?
At our studio, we utilise a tool that sets the environment variables according to a project. I would like to keep this dynamic way to set env for debbug in VS Code.

[brettcannon]

As I said, you can use a task to launch the process you want to attach to and then have the debugger connect to that process. Otherwise there isn't a way to use a task to launch the debugger itself that I can think of.

[UmeSiyah]

Ok thank you for the answer !

[MarinMlinarevic]

I created a feature request to run the debugger in an existing terminal, which would make this easier: microsoft/vscode#241259

And another one to allow specifying shell commands to run before the debugger in debugging configurations: microsoft/vscode-python-debugger#621

Please upvote if you would like this added.

[karthiknadig]

We now have a way to run the debugger directly from the terminal. Please look for no-config debugging. With that you can set your env variables in the terminal and launch the debugger from the terminal.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/python/python-in-visual-studio-code-february-2025-release/#no-config-debugging

[MarinMlinarevic]

Thanks, that is a great feature! But it would still be nice to be able to run debugging configurations from the GUI in an existing terminal too.