getActiveInterpreter Does Not Return User-Selected Interpreter When Stored in Workspace Storage

[fengzi2016]

Type: Bug

---

Title:
getActiveInterpreter Does Not Return User-Selected Interpreter When Stored in Workspace Storage

Description:
In recent versions of the VS Code Python extension, the user-selected Python interpreter is saved in VS Code’s workspace storage instead of settings.json or the pythonPath config. However, the current implementation of InterpreterService.getActiveInterpreter (see src/client/interpreter/interpreterService.ts) still attempts to retrieve the active interpreter path from the configuration service (configService.getSettings().pythonPath). As a result, when a user manually selects an interpreter, this method may not return the actual active interpreter, but rather a default or outdated path.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. In VS Code, manually select a Python interpreter for your workspace.
2. Check that the selected interpreter is not written to .vscode/settings.json or global settings.json.
3. Use code that calls InterpreterService.getActiveInterpreter to query the current interpreter.
4. Observe that the returned path is from the old config (or just "python"), not the actual selected interpreter.

Expected Behavior:
getActiveInterpreter should return the interpreter that the user has selected, regardless of whether it is stored in workspace storage or in the traditional configuration.

Actual Behavior:
getActiveInterpreter may return a value from the old config, which does not always reflect the user’s current selection.

Possible Solution:
Update InterpreterService.getActiveInterpreter to retrieve the active interpreter from workspace storage or use the correct API provided by the Python extension, rather than relying solely on the pythonPath setting.

Relevant Code:
src/client/interpreter/interpreterService.ts

public async getActiveInterpreter(resource?: Uri): Promise<PythonEnvironment | undefined> {
    // ... 
    path = this.configService.getSettings(resource).pythonPath;
    // ...
}

Environment:

• VS Code Python extension version: [fill in]
• VS Code version: [fill in]
• OS: [fill in]

Additional Context:
This could lead to inconsistencies or confusion for users and extensions relying on this method to determine the active interpreter.

--

Extension version: 2025.6.1
VS Code version: Code 1.100.2 (Universal) (848b80aeb52026648a8ff9f7c45a9b0a80641e2e, 2025-05-14T21:47:40.416Z)
OS version: Darwin arm64 24.1.0
Modes:

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g. Anaconda):
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g. conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): Unknown
• Value of the python.languageServer setting: Default

User Settings

languageServer: "Pylance"

Installed Extensions

Extension Name	Extension Id	Version
debugpy	ms-	2025.8.0
js-debug	ms-	1.100.1
js-debug-companion	ms-	1.1.3
python	ms-	2025.6.1
rust-analyzer	rus	0.3.2466
vscode-js-profile-table	ms-	1.0.10
vscode-pylance	ms-	2025.5.1

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Apple M1 Pro (10 x 2400)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	4, 4, 5
Memory (System)	32.00GB (0.14GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id 1870487a-4838-483f-86f3-4e868bb1f593
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

A/B Experiments

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generatesymbolt:31295002
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gendocf:31295004
j6a0c355:31309728

[eleanorjboyd]

Hi! Do you have the "Python Environments extension" installed?

[fengzi2016]

您的邮件我已经收到，将会尽快给您回复，谢谢！

[fengzi2016]

No, is it necessary to download the Python Environments extension? @eleanorjboyd

[fengzi2016]

What if I want to get the user-selected Python interpreter without installing the Python environment extension? @eleanorjboyd

[eleanorjboyd]

Hi! The python environments extension is not required- it is currently optional and we are transitioning to it but this will take months so all environment things should work with just the python extension. I was only asking since the new extension can be used in this place if you have it installed, the logic will go through the legacy select interpreter experience if you don't have the environments extension. I was wondering so I know which flow you are going through. Also if you could try it with the environments extension, this might fix your problem as well!

[fengzi2016]

I solved it, thanks