PYTHONSTARTUP is set even if the shell integration setting is off

[WardBrian]

Type: Bug

Behaviour

I noticed earlier today that my python shell was behaving strangely. I have narrowed it down to the fact that my custom PYTHONSTARTUP was being nuked by this extension. I have disabled both the python.terminal.shellIntegration.enabled and the overarching terminal.integrated.shellIntegration.enabled setting, and yet it is still being set to PYTHONSTARTUP=/home/brian/.config/Code/User/workspaceStorage/35fff5972bee4bfdc8e3450cd43f75b8/ms-python.python/pythonrc.py

Steps to reproduce:

1. Disable these settings
2. printenv | grep PYTHON, observe that PYTHONSTARTUP is still being modified

Diagnostic data

Output for Python in the Output panel (View→Output, change the drop-down the upper-right of the Output panel to Python)

2025-09-25 15:18:40.390 [warning] Dir "/home/brian/Dev/cpp/tinystan/.pixi/envs" is not watchable (directory does not exist)
2025-09-25 15:18:40.390 [info] Skipping ActivatedEnv Detection:  process.env.VSCODE_CLI !== '1'
2025-09-25 15:18:40.404 [info] > conda info --json
2025-09-25 15:18:40.420 [info] > pyenv which python
2025-09-25 15:18:40.420 [info] cwd: .
2025-09-25 15:18:40.971 [info] > ~/.miniforge3/envs/bridgestan/bin/python -I ~/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.python-2025.14.0-linux-x64/python_files/get_output_via_markers.py ~/.vscode/extensions/ms-python.python-2025.14.0-linux-x64/python_files/interpreterInfo.py
2025-09-25 15:18:41.004 [info] Python interpreter path: ~/.miniforge3/envs/bridgestan/bin/python
2025-09-25 15:18:41.007 [info] Using interpreter path: /home/brian/.miniforge3/envs/bridgestan/bin/python
2025-09-25 15:18:41.504 [info] Using direct conda activate command: conda activate bridgestan
2025-09-25 15:18:43.331 [info] Starting Pylance language server.

Extension version: 2025.14.0
VS Code version: Code 1.104.1 (0f0d87fa9e96c856c5212fc86db137ac0d783365, 2025-09-17T23:36:24.973Z)
OS version: Linux x64 6.8.0-84-generic
Modes:

• Python version (& distribution if applicable, e.g. Anaconda): 3.11.0
• Type of virtual environment used (e.g. conda, venv, virtualenv, etc.): Conda
• Value of the python.languageServer setting: Default

User Settings

condaPath: "<placeholder>"

languageServer: "Pylance"

experiments
• enabled: false

Installed Extensions

Extension Name	Extension Id	Version
anycode	ms-	0.0.75
anycode-c-sharp	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-cpp	ms-	0.0.7
anycode-go	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-java	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-kotlin	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-php	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-python	ms-	0.0.7
anycode-rust	ms-	0.0.8
anycode-typescript	ms-	0.0.7
autodocstring	njp	0.6.1
black-formatter	ms-	2025.2.0
cmake	twx	0.0.17
copilot	Git	1.372.0
copilot-chat	Git	0.31.2
cpptools	ms-	1.27.7
debugpy	ms-	2025.10.0
even-better-toml	tam	0.21.2
git-graph	mhu	1.30.0
isort	ms-	2025.0.0
jenkins-pipeline-linter-connector	jan	1.2.0
js-debug	ms-	1.104.0
js-debug-companion	ms-	1.1.3
jupyter	ms-	2025.8.0
jupyter-keymap	ms-	1.1.2
jupyter-renderers	ms-	1.3.0
language-julia	jul	1.149.2
language-x86-64-assembly	13x	3.1.5
latex-workshop	Jam	10.10.2
linter-gfortran	for	3.2.0
Lisp	mat	0.1.12
LiveServer	rit	5.7.9
material-theme	zhu	3.19.0
mesonbuild	mes	1.27.0
mypy-type-checker	ms-	2025.2.0
ocaml-platform	oca	1.32.3
pdf	tom	1.2.2
prettier-vscode	esb	11.0.0
project-manager	ale	12.8.0
python	ms-	2025.14.0
python-snippets	cst	0.1.2
quarto	qua	1.124.0
rainbow-csv	mec	3.22.0
remote-containers	ms-	0.427.0
remote-explorer	ms-	0.6.2025081809
remote-server	ms-	1.5.3
remote-ssh	ms-	0.121.2025081515
remote-ssh-edit	ms-	0.87.0
remote-wsl	ms-	0.104.2
rust-analyzer	rus	0.3.2593
shellcheck	tim	0.38.3
simple-rst	tro	1.5.4
todo-tree	Gru	0.0.226
vscode-ansi	ili	1.1.7
vscode-clangd	llv	0.2.0
vscode-dash	dee	2.4.0
vscode-firefox-debug	fir	2.15.0
vscode-github-actions	git	0.27.2
vscode-js-profile-table	ms-	1.0.10
vscode-jupyter-cell-tags	ms-	0.1.9
vscode-jupyter-slideshow	ms-	0.1.6
vscode-ocaml-expect-inline	rel	0.7.2
vscode-pylance	ms-	2025.8.2
vscode-python-envs	ms-	1.8.0
vscode-remote-extensionpack	ms-	0.26.0
vscode-stan-extension	war	3.0.0
vscode-table-formatter	shu	1.2.1
wasm-dwarf-debugging	ms-	1.0.1

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz (8 x 3316)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled 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 trees_in_viz: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: disabled_software vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: disabled_off webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	1, 1, 1
Memory (System)	30.93GB (23.38GB free)
Process Argv
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%
DESKTOP_SESSION	ubuntu
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP	Unity
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP	ubuntu
XDG_SESSION_TYPE	wayland

[anthonykim1]

Thanks for filing the issue. Are you testing this in a new terminal after you turned off all these settings?
Also make sure both user and workspace settings are turned off.

[WardBrian]

I am no longer able to recreate this. I was opening new terminals, but perhaps I needed to restart vscode entirely.

As a suggestion: if the user has PYTHONSTARTUP set themselves, consider either not enabling the integrations or at least logging a message about this. It was quite confusing to track down

[anthonykim1]

@WardBrian Good point, thanks for the feedback. Will create feature request for this.
For environment contributions coming from extensions. workbench.action.terminal.showEnvironmentContributions is a pretty useful command to use from the command palette, there you should be able to look at which extensions is contributing to which variables for the terminal.