Extension Experimentation and Roll Out

[eleanorjboyd]

This issue tracks the progress of the Python Environments extension rollout and experimentation. See below for info on opting in / out and how it all works.

TLDR:

You may now see that the Python Environments Extension is installed for you but it may or may not be "enabled". Enablement is controlled by a setting "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true/false, which if set to true will manually opt you into using the Python Environments Extension. If you don't have the above setting, you will randomly assign users to either treatment (environments extension "enabled") or control ("disabled"). The Environments Extension will become the default experience so over time more people will be opted into the experiment until it is at 100%.

current experimentation percentages:
50% of insiders in the treatment group ie have environments extension by default
0% of stable in the treatment group

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General

The Python Environments extension is a new extension build to improve and expand the environment related functionality of Python in VS Code. In the end, this extension will be bundled by default with the Python extension and tasks related to environments which exist in the Python extension will ultimately be deprecated in favor of the Python Environments extension which will take over providing this functionality. Users should see no regressions in behavior, we aim to support all the features in the environments extension which existed in the Python extension.

Experimentation & Rollout

Since environment related actions are integral to providing a great experience with Python, we will begin to roll out the environments extension by default over time and under a VS Code experiment. There are 3 parts which will determine if users have the python environments extension, higher order on the list takes precedence.

1. Insiders vs Stable: All insider users will now have the extension bundled by default with the Python extension, stable users will see no change at this time. The other criteria below will be used to determine if its "enabled" or not (insider users will see it installed either way).
2. User Setting: The setting (set in user settings) "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true/false, if set, will dictate the user experience. If set, the user will have the environments extension no matter the experiment group they are in. If you are experiencing issues, you can set this setting to false while we fix your problem, but once fixed you should opt back in as we will turn off the experiment at some point (and default to using the environments extension). Since we know users have already begun using the new extension, and we don't want to disturb their experience, anyone who used the extension from June 24th - 30th were automatically given the setting "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true.
3. Experiment Group: All users on insiders are in one of two groups, environments extension turned on or off. The easiest way to tell which you are in is by checking for the Python icon logo in the sidebar (if you see it this means you are in the experiment and have the environments extension enabled). Check below for the current percentages for the experiment as we will increase this number over time.

FAQs:

1. How do I know if I am in the experiment or not?
   First if you are on stable vscode (not insiders) then you aren't on the experiment. If you are on insiders, the easiest way to tell if you are in the experiment is by checking for the Python icon logo in the sidebar (if you see it this means you are in the experiment and have the environments extension enabled)
2. How do I opt out?
   You can only opt out temporarily (like as a bug is getting fixed) because the environments extension will become the default. But if you do want to opt out for now, add the following to your user settings: "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": false
3. Better yet- how do I opt in?
   We really hope you will opt in and give it a try (new features and improvements to existing features!). To do so just add the following to your user settings: "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true.
4. What should I do if something isn't working?
   If you find a bug in your experience with environment activation, creation, management, etc first try manually opting in or out to the experiment (see above steps). If you see a difference in your bug based changing this setting, it is a bug with the new experience and we would really appreciate if you file it and let us know!
5. Im on VS Code stable- can I still get this new extension?
   Yes! And we encourage you to do so! To do so, just search for "Python Environments" in the marketplace and install it. Then to make sure you don't get opted out when the experiment comes to stable, add "python.useEnvironmentsExtension": true to your user settings!

History:

7/7/2025: move experiment from 20% to 50% of insiders

[Liam3851]

I'm on VS Code stable 1.101.2 on Windows and somehow received this extension. In addition to not working at all with my multi-root workspace (I could click the button to set the environment, checked all the boxes next to my roots, but it never changed anything); even after uninstalling the extension, my multi-root workspace no longer works to set the environments at the workspace level.

[eleanorjboyd]

@Liam3851, sorry this is happening, not sure why it would be installed or cause permanent erroring to your env setup. A few questions, did you update your VS Code version recently? What version of the python extension are you on? Do you have python.useEnvironmentsExtension set in your user settings? Is it also broken on other workspaces or just this multiroot one you are using?

[dot-polka]

Does not work, revert to showing for eceryone!! Otherwise will need to go to different IDE

[eleanorjboyd]

Hello @dot-polka, I responded to your other comment but feel free to create a new issue with all the information and I can help- thanks!

[Liam3851]

@eleanorjboyd Thanks very much, I am on 1.101.2. I updated from the 1.100 line late last week so I suppose that could also be related. My current python extension is 2025.8.0. I don't have python.useEnvironmentsExtension in my settings, but I believe I did have python.experiments.enabled=true so that might have gotten me the experimental extension. If it's helpful, I use conda to manage my dependencies.

Multi-root is my main problem; I have another single-root project and (at least after removing the experimental extension) it seems ok. Even after downgrade I am finding that "Set at workspace level" just doesn't do anything at all-- it doesn't change the environment in the status bar, doesn't change listing of the underlying folders, it just seems to do a no-op. I'm not seeing any additional output from Python and Python Language Server between before and after I change the environment.

[dot-polka]

What worked for me: Set use settings by manually editing settings.json on MAC. Restating VS Code, Moving all python extensions to pre-release. Restarting VS Code. Applying extension to all profiles, Than toggling python env settings in the workspace setting and restarting VS code. Clearly feature did not have enough testing before enabling and breaking multiple developers