📦 Install

pip install venvstudio
venvstudio

🐧 On Linux, pip may refuse to install. Most current distributions mark the system Python as externally managed (PEP 668), so a plain pip install stops with error: externally-managed-environment. Two ways around it:

# Isolated — recommended, no system packages touched
pipx install venvstudio

# Into the system Python — needs the override flag
sudo pip install venvstudio --break-system-packages --no-cache-dir -U

The same flag applies when upgrading a system-wide install later on.

Or download the standalone binary — no Python required:

✨ Features

🗂️ Environment Management

• 8 environment types — Python venv, uv, Poetry, Conda (micromamba), pipx, Hatch, PDM, Pixi
• Create, rename, clone, delete virtual environments with a modern GUI
• Type column — see each env's package manager at a glance (🐍 venv, ⚡ uv, 📜 Poetry, 🦎 Conda, 📦 pipx, 🏗️ Hatch, 📦 PDM, 🌊 Pixi)
• Runtime column — actual Python version detected from each environment's binary
• Auto-detect existing environments on disk at startup
• Per-environment cache — instant load, no subprocess delays
• Set a Default Environment that opens automatically on launch
• Open terminal with environment pre-activated (cmd, PowerShell, pwsh, bash, zsh, fish...)
• Export as requirements.txt, requirements-frozen.txt (SHA-256 hashes), JSON, Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, pyproject.toml, environment.yml

🔧 Supported Environment Types

📦 Package Management

• Installed tab — filter, select, uninstall, export, import packages
• Catalog tab — 200+ curated packages across 15 categories with PyPI & Docs links
• Presets tab — one-click install bundles (Data Science, Web API, Django, Flask, ML, NLP, CV, Testing...)
• Manual Install tab — paste package names or version specs (numpy==1.24, pandas>=2.0)
• pip or uv backend (uv is 10–100× faster)

🚀 Quick Launch

• Sidebar shows installed apps for the active environment
• 22 one-click launchers — see full list below
• System tools — R, RStudio, Ollama, DBeaver, jamovi, JASP via Conda
• Jupyter Working Directory — configurable (Home / Env Folder / Custom Path)
• Create Desktop Shortcut for any app
• Instant sync between sidebar dropdown, environment table, and package panel

🐍 Python Management

• Auto-detect all system Python installations
• Add custom Python paths
• Set User Default or System Default Python (PATH management with optional admin elevation)
• Download standalone Python builds from python-build-standalone

⚙️ Settings & Customization

• 🌙 13 themes (8 dark + 5 light, Catppuccin-based)
• 3-level font system (Headings / UI & Menus / Details)
• 🌍 11 languages: EN, TR, DE, ES, RU, JA, AR, FR, PT, ZH, KO
• Conda mirrors — reorderable list with automatic failover; a Skip Mirror button jumps to the next one mid-install instead of waiting out a slow server
• pipx interpreter — pin which Python your CLI apps get installed with, useful when the newest release is ahead of the tools you need
• Custom venv base directory
• Custom terminal, catalog categories, and packages
• CLI/TUI Tools: Starship (preset preview, inline config editor, test terminal), Oh My Posh, Nerd Fonts
• Auto-check for updates on startup

🚀 Supported Launchers

Launch any of these tools directly from VenvStudio — if installed in the active environment, it appears in the sidebar automatically.

📓 Python Launchers (pip / uv)

	Tool	Description	Category	Website
	JupyterLab	Next-gen interactive development environment for notebooks	📓 Notebooks	jupyter.org
	Jupyter Notebook	Classic notebook interface for interactive computing	📓 Notebooks	jupyter.org
	Streamlit	Build data apps in minutes with pure Python	🌐 Web Apps	streamlit.io
	Gradio	Build and share ML demos and web apps	🌐 Web Apps	gradio.app
	Plotly Dash	Analytical web applications with Python	🌐 Web Apps	dash.plotly.com
	Panel	High-level app and dashboarding framework	🌐 Web Apps	panel.holoviz.org
	Voilà	Turn Jupyter notebooks into standalone web apps	🌐 Web Apps	voila.readthedocs.io
	FastAPI	Modern, fast web framework for building APIs	⚡ API	fastapi.tiangolo.com
	TensorBoard	Visualization toolkit for machine learning experiments	📊 ML Ops	tensorflow.org/tensorboard
	MLflow	Platform for the complete ML lifecycle	📊 ML Ops	mlflow.org
	Spyder IDE	Scientific Python development environment	🔬 IDE	spyder-ide.org
	Orange Data Mining	Visual programming for data analysis and ML	🔬 Data Science	orangedatamining.com
	Datasette	Explore and publish data with instant JSON API	🗄️ Data	datasette.io
	Marimo	Reactive notebook — no hidden state, runs as an app	📓 Notebooks	marimo.io
	Quarto	Publish documents, reports and dashboards	📄 Publishing	quarto.org
	IPython	Enhanced interactive Python shell	🐍 Shell	ipython.org

🛠️ System Tools (Conda / Portable)

Available in Conda environments — installed via conda-forge or detected on system.

🚀 Quick Start

From PyPI

pip install venvstudio
venvstudio

From Source

git clone https://github.com/bayramkotan/VenvStudio.git
cd VenvStudio
pip install PySide6
python main.py

Linux — System Dependencies

Before running VenvStudio on Linux, install the required Qt/XCB libraries:

Debian / Ubuntu / Pardus / Linux Mint:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 \
                 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-shape0 libxkbcommon-x11-0

Arch Linux / CachyOS / Manjaro:

sudo pacman -S xcb-util-cursor xcb-util-icccm xcb-util-image \
               xcb-util-keysyms xcb-util-renderutil libxkbcommon-x11

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS:

sudo dnf install libxcb xcb-util-cursor xcb-util-icccm xcb-util-image \
                 xcb-util-keysyms xcb-util-renderutil libxkbcommon-x11

openSUSE Leap / Tumbleweed:

sudo zypper install libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 \
                    libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libgthread-2_0-0

Note: If the AppImage fails with Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb", installing these packages will fix it.

CLI

VenvStudio is a GUI first, but the core actions work headless too — handy over SSH, in scripts, or when you just want one quick thing done.

Installing with pip gives you two names for the same tool: vs to type and venvstudio to read. Use whichever you like.

vs                        # short and sweet
venvstudio list           # or spell it out
vs install myenv requests httpx

On Windows, venvstudio-gui starts the GUI without a console window.

📤 Export Formats

Export your environment in multiple formats from the Export ▾ dropdown:

⬇️ Python Downloader

Download standalone Python builds straight from VenvStudio — no system install, no admin rights needed.

Five sources, tried in order until one answers:

The default chain is Astral → GitHub → python.org: if one is unreachable or slow, VenvStudio moves to the next on its own. Pick your preferred source in Settings → Python.

Install target:

• User Install — no admin required, stored in VenvStudio config
• System Install — Windows (C:\Program Files), Linux (/opt/python), macOS (/usr/local/python)

🏗️ Build from Source

pip install pyinstaller PySide6 Pillow
python build.py

📝 License

LGPL-3.0