Non VS Code dev setups
Posted by _besten@reddit | Python | View on Reddit | 54 comments
I like to experiment with other IDE's and most recently tried Positron which feels very promising for a data science oriented workflow. Often however, I resort back to vs code due to pylance. I've yet to find a LSP which works as well out of the box. Based pyright / pyright feels sluggish and tends to be to strict in it's type checking capabilities.
What I love about pylance is the goto-definition, fast file scanning and autocomplete. Works just as well for notebooks (which is common in my workflow).
I'm currently using
- vscode ( + pylance)
- uv
- ruff
- mypy
coding primarily on wsl ubuntu
Any one else using other IDE with similar workflows and tools?
isabelizimm@reddit
Little late here, but Positron is now using a new LSP out of the box (pyrefly)! There's a blog post about the process of it being chosen: https://positron.posit.co/blog/posts/2026-03-31-python-type-checkers/
NotSoProGamerR@reddit
using helix right now, from vscode
goto is amazing, but a bit buggy. i configured pyright, ruff and ty as my lsps, with pyright as my main lsp handling everything except
goto-declaration,goto-type-definition,goto-reference, andgoto-implementation. ruff has its config set todisableLanguageServices = true, while ty has disabledformat,goto-definition,signature-help,hover,document-highlight,completion,code-action,workspace-command,document-symbols,workspace-symbols, andrename-symbol. it's a bit of a scuffed workflow, but it works for mewenmch@reddit
Then what do you use ty for?
NotSoProGamerR@reddit
i use ty for goto decleration, goto type definition, goto reference, goto implementation, inlay hints and diagnostics
iamquah@reddit
Any reason you use it just for those tasks? I’m using just basedpyright now but have been looking at ty and pyrefly for a while
NotSoProGamerR@reddit
i use them specifically because ty's goto is more accurate than pyright. I'm not sure if pyrefly has such lsp features though
BeamMeUpBiscotti@reddit
It does: https://pyrefly.org/en/docs/IDE-features/
pplonski@reddit
Im working on my own IDE for data science. It is called MLJAR Studio. It is based on Jupyter Lab but installed as desktop application (running with Electron). I focus more on adding tools that help users with data analysis - most of our users are not professional software engineers but they do have huge domain knowledge and need computer programs to analyze their data. What I focused is providing nice way to list current variables, GUI for packages installation, GUI for some Machine Learning algorithms, and AI chat that help with code creation.
H3rbert_K0rnfeld@reddit
Pulsar
ksoops@reddit
I like Zed but I use it as my secondary editor for now.
I'm waiting for them to give us the option for wrapping tabs (multiple rows of tabs) for when you are working on a big proj and have lots of tabs open at the same time... I got too used to this in vscode
gazpachoking@reddit
I just switched from PyCharm to Zed. After a little transition pain I'm quite happy.
jvacek996@reddit
Seconding zed, the python default setup got improved a lot recently. The pytest and debugpy support out the box is sweet. Ruff being default is also nice and sane.
echols021@reddit
Last I tried Zed it was a huge pain to try to get mypy plugged in, and generally atrocious trying to guess what to put in the JSON config file with no intelli-sense to help out. Is any of that stuff what has improved?
gazpachoking@reddit
There is a settings editor for a bunch of things now, and intellisense in the config file. Haven't tried mypy, but based pyright and ruff are enabled out of the box now.
hcmar@reddit
Install pycharm and never look back
komprexior@reddit
Isn't pylance available for positron? I thought it was just an extension
Marimo is fun to use also, but it's more a notebook replacement than a full IDE
_besten@reddit (OP)
Doesn't work for me, had the same issues with cursor. I'm guessing microsoft have turned it off for vs code forks
komprexior@reddit
Since you mentioned positron, I'm right to assume you're a quarto enjoyer too?
_besten@reddit (OP)
Quarto is on my todo list to try. R people seem to like it
the_original_fuckup@reddit
I always like to experiment as well, but end up going back to PyCharm/JetBrains projects. They just feel so full featured to me. I haven’t been able to get the hang of uv for some reason, I’ve stuck with pyenv.
Maybe I’ll give VSCode another shot, with pylance this time!
Stijndcl@reddit
Agreed on JB, but the PyCharm type checker is unfortunately pretty bad when you start doing more complex things. Wish they’d finally put some more effort into fixing it.
echols021@reddit
I feel like it's actually gone downhill over the last few years. Like, I seem to remember it correctly handling generics and generators and context managers, but now it goofs on all those
_besten@reddit (OP)
Heard good things about pycharm as well, does it work well with wsl?
You should def give uv a try!
echols021@reddit
I use PyCharm with WSL and it's not a problem. The only things I ever notice weird are that it can be slow to notice new files (since it's acting like the files are on a remote machine), and I also seem unable to set certain interpreters as associated only with certain projects (the interpreter selector always has all my WSL venvs listed). Pretty trivial, in my opinion l
No-Article-Particle@reddit
Really... I've tried PyCharm several times and could never get it to work for my workflow. It just felt so sluggish, and the remote debugging experience on VSCode, where I could just open a SSH tunnel into any infra and connect to the code is unparalleled for me.
Raknarg@reddit
you can do that on pycharm as well but it's a paid feature...
No-Article-Particle@reddit
Can you connect to an already running code? Like I set up the remote code to wait for incoming connections, start the process on the remote machine, and then connect from pycharm via SSH?
uqurluuqur@reddit
Yes
Zireael07@reddit
Same here! Plus I can't get to grips with the search in PyCharm. It never remembers that I want to see ALL the results, I have to click the checkbox/button every time.
_besten@reddit (OP)
I've yet to find an IDE where where connecting do docker is as easy as it is with VS Code, the ability to include your local extensions is great as well
yerfatma@reddit
Yeah, I like VSCode a lot and use it for most everything else, but PyCharm is the one for me. Recently had to do without it and I cobbled a bunch of plugins to VSCode to where it was a good experience, but there were always seams showing, places where what I wanted was something that one plugin was doing to be seen and expected by another plugin.
cip43r@reddit
I don't use Jetbrain stuff as I like using the same IDE for everything. If you only do Python, I think Jetbrains is probably one of the best ones.
The_Seeker_25920@reddit
WSL all day with vscode… after that we’re splitting hairs, I use pyenv still, tfenv is great, then it’s Ansible, whole stack is a mess as devops lol
sluuuurp@reddit
Cursor is amazing. It’s basically VS Code but $20/month for incredible AI tools, I highly recommend it to everyone.
childofsol@reddit
I just switched back to vscode. It seems cursor has murdered the performance, so much typing lag, and they are hacking away at their fork of vscode in ways that I really don't trust.
sluuuurp@reddit
I do wish they were more transparent and open about their hacking of stuff. And I have had hours/days where it stopped working and was very frustrating. But I can’t deny how magical the tab autocomplete feels the 99% of time when it works.
RagingClue_007@reddit
I've found it hard to beat positron for DS stuff. The variable explorer is top notch. Really just a reskin or R studio with code extensions.
I've got neovim setup to work with DS projects fairly well too. The nagging thing I cannot get over is the inability to auto complete /suggest data frame features. It's annoying to have frames with 20+ features that you cannot remember and constantly running df.columns during exploration.
sudonem@reddit
nvim/lazyvim
Jojos_BA@reddit
seems to be the most obvious answer besides emacs.
sudonem@reddit
Yeah. If you aren’t going to use vscode, nvim is pretty hard to beat.
I use lazyvim and have it configured as a full IDE for Python, bash, Ansible etc.
To be fair, it’s absolutely not for beginners - but if you already live in Linux (as I do) and get comfortable with vim motions, you’ll fly.
Jojos_BA@reddit
I cant live without at least a tiller. I have bend and broke wimdows int he pursuit of having a somewhat working environmentfor work, as Windows is mandatory, but on all my other PCs is a version of Linux with a tiller.
Also a 36key split keyboard with nice layers is a game changer for comfort, along with as you mentioned vim motions.
All these changes only save up a little time on their own, but all together its huge comfort boost.
sudonem@reddit
I run tmux for window tiling.
At work I am forced to use windows but I’m the Linux engineer so mostly I login, load WSL and get to work.
¯\(ツ)/¯
Jojos_BA@reddit
Ye tmux is great for terminal, but i do have a setup with 1: terminal 2: browser 3: emacs 4: obsidian (planning to replace with emacs) 8: btoo 9: music 5;6;7 are spontaneous, This is burned into my muscles, i dont need to think about it. I want that on windows too, since it works with whatever i am doing at my pc, gaming, writing or programming
aala7@reddit
I use basedpyright, uv, ruff and mypy with Neovim. I agree with you that pylance is better. For me it is primarily the diagnostics that are too much! But that could probably be configured, just been too lazy… and also hope that Ty defaults will solve all my problems when it comes.
Anyhow would recommend trying out vim/neovim if you want a different editor experience. Terminal native, keyboard centric, minimal, all that is just so satisfying for me!
VegetableYam5434@reddit
Emacs + UV, ruff, pyright, eglot, tresitter, yasnippets, eglot, aider, magit. It is free (exclude pyright), super customizable, super useful...
moric7@reddit
Eclipse + PyDev 👍
yopla@reddit
Zed
worthwhilewrongdoing@reddit
I swear by PyCharm personally but I'm a little old-fashioned and have been using it for eons. It's free now.
renatoram@reddit
nvim (Astro Vim currently), with neat integrations with ruff and lsp-treesitter.
Honorable mention to "pdbp" because I rarely see it mentioned: just a lot of "quality of life" improvements on the raw pdb debugger. Currently checking out lazygit too, for good measure: seems neat.
With this setup I rarely feel the need to fire up pyCharm (of which I do have a commercial license), though I appreciate some of its tools, especially for big and complex projects (database frontend, a very powerful debugger, refactoring tools, for example). I just sometimes feel setting up pyCharm is more effort (and I did have in the past issues where it would destroy my poetry envs *all the time*)
fight-or-fall@reddit
Pycharm is fine. There is an extension that deals with astral stuff (uv ruff etc)
passerbycmc@reddit
Neovim for quick and dirty stuff, then for more involved stuff I use the various Jetbrains IDEs mostly CLion and PyCharm.
p000l@reddit
I also use a lot of VS Code, but I've begun to see myself finally comfortable with nvim + lazy + mason. Try kickstart.nvim to get started.
MeroLegend4@reddit
Sublime Text
drphillycheesesteak@reddit
vim + ALE plugin allows you to get most IDE features. I have ruff and pylsp enabled and that gets me auto-complete, jump to definition and basic renaming functionality. Add that to the built-in text manipulation advantage of using vim and it outperforms VSCode IMO. Usual caveats about vim’s learning curve. Neovim has more built-in integration with LSP’s, but I haven’t made the switch myself yet, no good reason.