External tools

Add a local external tool

pylint is a code analyzer tool that checks your code and detects any style, logic, and usage problems. It might be a great addition to the code validation features available with PyCharm.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Project | Python Interpreter.

2. Click to install a new package.

3. In the Available packages window, search for "pylint", then choose it in the list of packages, and click Install Package.

   

   Wait until the package is installed and close the window.

4. Now that you have installed pylint on your system, you can configure its integration with PyCharm.

5. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Tools | External Tools.

6. Click the button to add a new external tool.

7. Add configuration options as shown below:

   

   • Group: The name of the external tool group to show in the Tools | External Tools menu

   • Name: The external tool name

   • Description: An optional description

   • Program: The path to the pylint executable ($PyInterpreterDirectory$ is a directory where the Python interpreter of the current project is placed). Example:

     $PyInterpreterDirectory$\pylint

     $PyInterpreterDirectory$/pylint

   • Argument: Specifies what files and folders should be checked (car.py and test in this example) and sets the output format for pylint errors. Example:

     --msg-template="$FileDir$\{path}:{line}:{column}:{C}:({symbol}){msg}" car.py test

     --msg-template="$FileDir$/{path}:{line}:{column}:{C}:({symbol}){msg}" car.py test

   • Working directory: Project root directory

   • It is recommended to enable all options from the Advanced Options section and set up the Output filters to insert links to the files with errors into the pylint output, so you can quickly jump to an error or warning in your code.

8. Click OK to save the changes. Complete adding an external tool by clicking Apply and OK in the External Tools window.

Now you can access this external tool from the Tools | External Tools.

You can run pylint using this menu. However, you might also want to add it to the Run/Debug Configuration of your application.

Run the external tool

1. From the main menu, choose Run | Edit Configurations, then in the Edit Configurations dialog, click in the Before launch section.

2. Select Run External tool from the Add new configuration list and specify pylint. It will be added to the list of scripts to be executed before the application launch.

   

3. Click OK to save the changes

4. Run the Run/Debug configuration Shift+F10.

   

   You should expect to see the pylint tab in the Tools window with the following sample output:

   

You can inspect the reported errors, click the corresponding links to navigate to the problematic code, and made the required changes.

Add a remote external tool

Remote SSH external tools are configured similarly to local external tools, but also define the remote server on which they are executed and require credentials for connecting to it via SSH.

This example demonstrates how to add date as a remote SSH external tool that is executed on a remote server and returns the current date and time on it.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Tools | Remote SSH External Tools.

2. Click and specify the following settings:

   

   This dialog provides the same set of settings as when you add a local external tool, but selecting the remote server is also suggested.

   This can be one of your configured SSH configurations or a Vagrant box.

   By default, PyCharm will ask you for the host, port, and relevant SSH credentials every time you run the tool on the server.

3. Click OK to add the tool and then apply the changes.

Run the added tool on a remote server

• From the main menu, select Tools | Remote tools | Date and time.

• In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), select Keymap, find the Date and time action, and assign a shortcut for it. Use the shortcut to run the tool.

After you specify the host, port, and credentials, PyCharm will connect to the server via SSH and run the date command, returning the output to the Run tool window in PyCharm.