VSCode set up

• Install Poetry
• Clone the repo
• Create a venv
• Install dependencies
• Set the Python path
• Configure project settings
• Setup an instance of the bot
• Create launch configuration

Install Poetry

Install Poetry and familiarize yourself with the commands. Poetry makes it easier to manage dependencies and keep them synchronized with everyone else.

Clone the repo

Fork and clone the commanderbot-dev repo:

git clone [email protected]:CommanderBot-Dev/commanderbot-dev.git

Create a venv

In the root of the repo, create a Python virtual environment:

python -m venv venv/commanderbot-dev

You can use any path for the venv, but it is recommended to use venv/commanderbot-dev because:

1. everything under venv is already git-ignored; and
2. the sub-folder commanderbot-dev labels the venv to help distinguish it from others.

Install dependencies

Activate the venv you just created (such as by opening a new integrated terminal) and install dependencies:

poetry install

Once the packages are installed, you can verify the results:

poetry show

Set the Python path

Create .vscode/settings.json and set python.pythonPath to the venv you just created. The path differs based on the name you chose, and whether you're on Windows or Linux. Here's what it might look like on Linux for the commanderbot-dev repo:

{
  "python.pythonPath": "venv/commanderbot-dev/bin/python"
}

Configure project settings

It is important to configure certain project-level settings such as which code formatter to use. All Python projects use the black formatter. You can do this either in the folder settings at .vscode/settings.json or your workspace settings, by adding these options:

{
  "python.formatting.provider": "black"
}

Note that black itself is configured separately in pyproject.toml as part of version control.

Here are some additional recommend settings to help streamline the development process:

{
  "editor.rulers": [88],
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.organizeImports": true
  },
  "files.exclude": {
    ".pytest_cache/**": true,
    "**/__pycache__": true,
    "venv/**": true,
    "*.egg-info/**": true
  }
}

Placing these options in your workspace settings will apply them to all folders in the current workspace, which is useful if you have multiple repos present.

You can access your workspace settings by opening the command palette with ctrl + shift + p and searching for Preferences: Open Workspace Settings (JSON). Make sure to place settings under the settings field, separate from folders.

Setup an instance of the bot

See the CommanderBot readme for how to configure and run an instance of the bot.

Note that the two files bot.json and bot.token as well as the entire data folder are already git-ignored, however you may choose to maintain your bot's state elsewhere.

Create launch configuration

Create .vscode/launch.json to define launch/debug configuration for the bot. Here's a startign template that uses the git-ignored bot.json and bot.token files:

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "CommanderBot",
      "type": "python",
      "request": "launch",
      "module": "commanderbot",
      "console": "integratedTerminal",
      "args": ["bot.json", "--tokenfile", "bot.token", "--log", "INFO"]
    }
  ]
}