Getting imports from another folder to work in .ipynb in VSCode

x.ipynb

{
 "cells": [
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 1,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "/Users/pi/code/2024/vscode_setup/nbs\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "! pwd"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 2,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "\u001b[01;34m..\u001b[0m\n",
      "├── \u001b[01;34mnbs\u001b[0m\n",
      "│   ├── \u001b[00mfix.png\u001b[0m\n",
      "│   └── \u001b[00mx.ipynb\u001b[0m\n",
      "└── \u001b[01;34mtools\u001b[0m\n",
      "    ├── \u001b[00m__init__.py\u001b[0m\n",
      "    ├── \u001b[00mother.py\u001b[0m\n",
      "    └── \u001b[00mtools.py\u001b[0m\n",
      "\n",
      "3 directories, 5 files\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "! rm -rf ../tools/__pycache__/\n",
    "! rm -rf ../.vscode/\n",
    "\n",
    "! tree ..\n",
    "\n",
    "# ⚡️ Restart VSCode here, so that we have a fresh testcase"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 3,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "# 🔸 tools.py\n",
      "print('tools.py loaded')\n",
      "def f():\n",
      "    print(42)\n",
      "\n",
      "# 🔸 other.py\n",
      "print('other.py loaded')\n",
      "def g():\n",
      "    print('g')\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "! cat ../tools/{tools,other}.py"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 4,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "<class 'ModuleNotFoundError'> No module named 'tools'\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "# import sys\n",
    "# sys.path.append('../tools')  # 🟡 This works, but feels like \"cheating\"\n",
    "\n",
    "try:\n",
    "    from tools import f\n",
    "except Exception as e:\n",
    "    print(type(e), e)\n",
    "# ❌ ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'tools'"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 5,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [],
   "source": [
    "! mkdir ../.vscode\n",
    "\n",
    "import json\n",
    "J = {\n",
    "    \"jupyter.notebookFileRoot\": \"${workspaceFolder}/tools\",\n",
    "}\n",
    "\n",
    "with open('../.vscode/settings.json', 'w') as f:\n",
    "    json.dump(J, f)"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "### ⚡️ Close and re-open .ipynb before continuing\n",
    "\n",
    "- Restarting the kernel is not sufficient.\n",
    "- Close and re-open .ipynb IS sufficient.\n",
    "- Restarting VSCode is overkill."
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 1,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "tools.py loaded\n",
      "42\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "from tools import f\n",
    "f()"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 2,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "other.py loaded\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "\n",
    "from other import g  # 🟡 yellow-squiggly underline under `other`"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 3,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "g\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "# There's a yellow squiggle under each `other`\n",
    "# Hovering:\n",
    "# > Import \"other\" could not be resolved (Pylance (reportMissingImports))\n",
    "\n",
    "# ... but we can still execute!\n",
    "g()"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 4,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [],
   "source": [
    "# This doesn't do anything\n",
    "if 0:\n",
    "    ! touch ../tools/__init__.py\n",
    "\n",
    "    # ⚡️ Close and reopen .ipynb\n",
    "\n",
    "    # 🫤 same issue\n",
    "\n",
    "    ! echo 'from .other import g' > ../tools/__init__.py\n",
    "\n",
    "    # ⚡️ Close and reopen .ipynb\n",
    "\n",
    "    # 🫤 same issue"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "# ⚡️ Apply the VSCode-suggested fix\n",
    "\n",
    "![fix.png](fix.png)\n",
    "\n",
    "... the squiggles go away"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 6,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "{\n",
      "    \"jupyter.notebookFileRoot\": \"${workspaceFolder}/tools\",\n",
      "    \"python.analysis.extraPaths\": [\n",
      "        \"./tools\"\n",
      "    ]\n",
      "}"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "! cat ../.vscode/settings.json"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "Q: Why did `tools` work, but `other` required `.extraPaths`?\n",
    "A: I think because `tools.py` matches the `tools/` containing folder name\n",
    "\n",
    "Q: Why did this addition to settings.json insta-fix, whereas the previous _creation_ of settings.json required a VSCode restart?\n",
    "A: Maybe because .extraPaths is for PyLance, but `notebookFileRoot` is likely being read upon spawning the .ipynb viewer."
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": []
  }
 ],
 "metadata": {
  "kernelspec": {
   "display_name": ".venv",
   "language": "python",
   "name": "python3"
  },
  "language_info": {
   "codemirror_mode": {
    "name": "ipython",
    "version": 3
   },
   "file_extension": ".py",
   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
   "name": "python",
   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
   "version": "3.12.3"
  }
 },
 "nbformat": 4,
 "nbformat_minor": 2
}

fix.png

Crosslink: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58735256/set-pythonpath-for-local-jupyter-notebook-in-vs-code