microsoft / microsoft/vscode-python-environments

What is the global environment for?

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@StellaHuang95 is already working on this.

Since Apr 30, 2026.

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Description

Hi, using my hatch environment extension, I ran into an usability issue: there are extensions that use the global Python environment such ruff and ty.

When setting a workspace environment, these extensions still use the global env, for which there is no clear indicator in the UI. How should this be fixed:

  • should my extension just also set the global environment whenever setting a project-scoped environment?
  • should these extensions be changed so they stop using api.environments.onDidChangeActiveEnvironmentPath, which seems to track the global environment?

Maybe I just don’t really know what the 'global' scope is for … any guidance?

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