Retaining environment variables with virtual environments - pygmt example

[tacquisto]

I recently switched to vscode (v 1.72.2), and set up a new virtual environment to be used as the python interpreter for a project. Just about everything works as expected; however, I am having issues importing pygmt, as the necessary GMT_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable (set in my .bashrc) is not retained.

I'm having some difficulties understanding how to setup something like a .env file to store local variables. If I run my local install of python3 (i.e., not a venv) and load the appropriate modules, then pygmt knows where to find the gmt libraries and works fine.

What is the common practice for achieving this through vscode?

[brettcannon]

the necessary GMT_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable (set in my .bashrc) is not retained.

Not retained where? What are you trying to do where the environment information is not being picked up? And how are you launching VS Code; if it's in your .bashrc then if you launch VS Code from the terminal then it should be effectively preset for the VS Code process.

And the docs for .env files can be found at https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_environment-variable-definitions-file . But I will admit we don't have support for such files fleshed out in all parts of the extension.