Configure a Poetry environment

Poetry is a tool that facilitates creating a Python virtual environment based on the project dependencies. You can declare the libraries your project depends on, and Poetry will install and update them for you.

Project dependencies are recorded in the pyproject.toml file that specifies required packages, scripts, plugins, and URLs. See the pyproject reference for more information about its structure and format.

To use Poetry in IntelliJ IDEA, you need to install it on your machine and create a specific Python environment.

Install Poetry

Open Terminal (on macOS and Linux) or PowerShell (on Windows) and execute the following command:
curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -
(Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://install.python-poetry.org -UseBasicParsing).Content | py -
If you have installed Python through the Microsoft Store, replace py with python in the command above.
curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python3 -
On macOS and Windows, the installation script will suggest adding the folder with the poetry executable to the PATH variable. Do that by running the following command:
export PATH="/Users/jetbrains/.local/bin:$PATH"
$Env:Path += ";C:\Users\jetbrains\AppData\Roaming\Python\Scripts"; setx PATH "$Env:Path"
Don't forget to replace jetbrains with your username!
To verify the installation, run the following command:
poetry --version
You should see something like Poetry (version 1.2.0).

Refer to the Poetry Installation Instructions for more details.

Create a Poetry environment

Navigate to File | Project Structure or press Control+Alt+Shift+S.
In the Project Structure dialog, select SDKs under the Platform Settings section, click , and choose Add Python SDK from the popup menu.
In the left-hand pane of the Add Python Interpreter dialog, select Poetry Environment.
The following actions depend on whether you want to create a new Poetry environment or to use an existing one.
New Poetry environment
- Select Poetry Environment.
- Choose the base interpreter from the list, or click and find the desired Python executable in your file system.
- If IntelliJ IDEA doesn't detect the poetry executable, specify the following path in the Poetry executable field, replacing jetbrains with your username:
  /Users/jetbrains/Library/Application Support/pypoetry/venv/bin/poetry
  C:\Users\jetbrains\AppData\Roaming\pypoetry\venv\Scripts\poetry.exe
  /home/jetbrains/.local/bin/poetry
Existing Poetry environment
- Make sure that the project directory contains a pyproject.toml file.
- Select Existing environment. Then expand the Interpreter list and choose the desired interpreter.
- If the desired interpreter is not on the list, click, and then browse for the Python executable within the previously configured Poetry environment.
The selected Poetry environment will be reused for the current project.
Click OK to complete the task.

When you configure a new Poetry environment, IntelliJ IDEA adds two files to your workspace:

pyproject.toml: specifies the project requirements
poetry.lock: records changes in the projects requirements

Each time you modify the pyproject.toml file, IntelliJ IDEA notifies you and offers two actions: to record the changes in the poetry.lock file or to record the changes and install the unsatisfied requirements.

Last modified: 15 March 2023