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Python environments#

For Python work the agent keeps everything in a virtual environment inside the project, never in your global Python.

What happens#

The agent calls the venv tool with action: "create". PortCode runs python3 -m venv .venv in the project (after you approve it).
From then on, every bash command runs with VIRTUAL_ENV set and .venv/bin first on PATH, so python, pip and pytest mean the project's own.
The agent installs packages with venv and action: "install", which runs pip install inside .venv.

The tool has three actions:

Action	Does
`status` (default)	says whether `.venv` exists and which Python it has
`create`	creates `.venv`; does nothing if it exists
`install`	installs the listed packages into `.venv`

{"action": "install", "packages": ["numpy", "pytest>=8"]}

Safe by construction#

Package names must be plain requirements (pytest>=8, requests[socks]==2.32.0). Flags, URLs and anything with shell characters are refused, so the model cannot pass --index-url or a git URL.
Creating the environment and installing both ask for permission.
The project's API-key variables are removed from the environment of these commands.

Turning it off#

It is on by default. Set "venv": false in portcode.json, or use /venv off for the running session (/venv on to bring it back). When it is off, create explains that and bash keeps your normal PATH.

If creation fails, the error says whether Python 3 or, on Debian and Ubuntu, python3-venv is missing.

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