Create and activate a Python virtual environment with venv
domain: python-dependency-management · 4 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Run python -m venv .venv in the project root to create an isolated environment (parent directories are created as needed).
Activate it per shell: source .venv/bin/activate for bash/zsh, source .venv/bin/activate.fish for fish, or on Windows use .venv\Scripts\activate.bat for cmd or .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 for PowerShell (you may need Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser first).
Confirm it is active by checking that sys.prefix does not equal sys.base_prefix inside Python, or by running which python and seeing the env path.
Deactivate with the deactivate command when finished.
Known gotchas
The environment is NOT portable: shebang lines embed absolute paths, so recreate it (requirements.txt plus pip install -r requirements.txt) instead of copying or moving it.
Do not commit the .venv directory to source control; venv auto-creates a .gitignore for Git on Python 3.13 and later (skip with --without-scm-ignore-files).
--system-site-packages grants access to the base install, --clear wipes existing directory contents, --upgrade-deps bumps pip to the latest on PyPI, and --upgrade re-bases the env onto a newer interpreter after an in-place Python upgrade.
The old pyvenv tool was removed in Python 3.8; always use python -m venv. Not available on Android, iOS, or WASI.
Activation is optional: you can always call the environment's own interpreter by its full path instead.
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