Pixi Environment Manager for VS Code

A comprehensive VS Code extension for managing Pixi environments. This extension enables seamless integration of Pixi-managed toolchains directly into your VS Code workspace, providing a streamlined and fully integrated development experience.

Key Features

• Automatic Bootstrapping: Automatically downloads and installs the Pixi binary if it's not present, making onboarding new developers effortless.
• Full Window Context: Injects environment variables (like PATH, CONDA_PREFIX, and custom variables) into the entire VS Code window context. This means terminals, other extensions, and tasks all inherit the activated environment automatically.
• Task Support: Integrate Pixi tasks natively into VS Code. Run tasks via the Status Bar, Command Palette, or standard VS Code "Run Task" menu.
• config Watcher: Automatically detects changes in pixi.toml and pixi.lock (including external Git operations) and prompts to keep the environment in sync.
• Offline Support: Unique capability to generate and load "offline" environment packs (.tar.gz + .pixi), enabling reproducible development in air-gapped or restricted networks.

🚀 Why this extension?

While there is an official Pixi extension, Pixi Environment Manager focuses on a different set of needs:

Feature	Pixi Environment Manager (This Extension)	Official Pixi Extension
Scope	Full Setup & Infrastructure. Automates binary download, offline packing, and deep system integration.	Task Runner. Focused on running pixi run commands effectively.
Context Integration	Window-Wide. Injects variables into the global collection, so all terminals and extensions see the environment by default.	Terminal-Specific. Often focuses on specific task terminals.
Language Focus	Language Agnostic. Designed for ANY toolchain managed by Pixi (C++, Rust, Python, Go, Node, System Tools). Not limited to Python.	Often associated with Python workflows.
Offline Workflows	Native commands to pack and unpack offline environments.	Not a primary focus.

Use this extension if:

• You want a "zero-setup" experience for your team (just open VS Code and it works).
• You use Pixi to manage general developer tooling (compilers, linters, cloud CLIs), not just Python.
• You want your pixi.toml to drive the entire VS Code experience.

📦 Usage

Getting Started

1. Open a folder containing a pixi.toml.
2. The extension will detect it. If Pixi is missing, it will ask to download it.
3. The environment will automatically activate. Open a new terminal, and your tools are ready!

Commands (Command Palette: Pixi Env: ...)

• Create Environment: Initialize a new Pixi project or hydrate an existing one.
• Activate Environment: Manually activate a specific environment from pixi.toml.
• Run Task: Run a task defined in pixi.toml (also available via $(play) Pixi Tasks in Status Bar).
• Deactivate Environment: Deactivate the current Pixi environment in the window.
• Clear Environment: Clear the environment cache/state (.pixi folder).
• Generate Offline Environment: Create a portable archive of your current environment (requires pixi-pack).
• Load Offline Environment: Restore an environment from an offline archive.
• Generate Activation Scripts: Create shell scripts (activate.sh, activate.bat) for external use.

Configuration

• pixi.defaultEnvironment: Name of the environment to activate automatically on startup.
• pixi.environment: Fallback environment name to use if no specific environment is selected (default: default).
• pixi.showDefaultEnvironment: If true, the default environment is included in the environment selection list (default: false).
• pixi.checkUpdates: Automatically check for Pixi updates on startup (default: true).
• pixi.useSystemPixi: If true, use the system pixi executable instead of the self-contained one (default: false).
• pixi.disableConfigChangePrompt: If true, suppresses prompts when the Pixi environment (lockfile) is out of sync (default: false).
• pixi.offlineEnvironmentName: Name of the directory when unpacking an offline environment (default: env).
• pixi.autoReload: Automatically reload the window after activation to ensure all extensions pick up changes.

🔧 Building & Contributing

Please refer to docs/CONTRIBUTING.md for instructions on how to build, run, and contribute to this project. We welcome your contributions!

⚖️ Legal & Attribution

Disclaimer: This extension is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with prefix.dev or the Pixi project. It is an independent open-source tool designed to help developers use Pixi within VS Code.

Third-Party Software: This extension downloads and uses the Pixi executable to manage environments. Pixi is Copyright (c) prefix.dev GmbH and is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md in the extension installation directory for full license text.

👏 Credits

• Powered by Pixi package manager by prefix.dev.
• Heavily inspired by the vscode-micromamba extension.