Deactivate a pipenv environment

Question

How can I deactivate my pipenv environment?

With other tools I've been able to do something like source deactivate, but that has no affect here.

Create an environment:

pipenv --three

Activate the environment:

source $(pipenv --venv)/bin/activate

But how to deactivate?

Just a tip, when using pipenv as your package and environment manager, the tool already provides an easier command to activate the virtual environment, which is `pipenv shell` as stated in the [documentation](https://docs.pipenv.org/en/latest/basics/#example-pipenv-workflow), so no `source $(pipenv --venv)/bin/activate` required. — dandev486, May 08 '19 at 11:19
The [current accepted answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/49944909) is actually incorrect and even messes things up, as explained [below](https://stackoverflow.com/a/51075851). Could you please accept one of the correct answers? — djvg, Dec 14 '20 at 11:26

score 91 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 28 '20 at 00:52

91

To elaborate on Williams' answer a bit more, the expected workflow is to enter the virtualenv using pipenv shell. When you activate the virtualenv that way, the console output now indicates to use exit:

Spawning environment shell (/bin/zsh). Use 'exit' to leave.

Trying to exit the virtualenv with deactivate will leave pipenv in a confused state because you will still be in that spawned shell instance but not in an activated virtualenv.

edited Feb 28 '20 at 00:52

Martijn Pieters

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answered Jun 28 '18 at 06:14

ButtaKnife

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It would be possible to use `deactivate` to escape the venv if you use something like `source $(pipenv --venv)/bin/activate` to enter it. – msoutopico Mar 22 '21 at 18:30
thank you its helping me, clearly way, cause deactivate just work on virtualenv – monti Apr 10 '21 at 03:21
"Expected workflow" link doesn't work – carkod Dec 14 '22 at 22:15

Williams · Answer 2 · 2018-06-23T04:22:43.240

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Using the shell command exit also works.

This worked for me when using deactivate still left me with the error:

Shell for UNKNOWN_VIRTUAL_ENVIRONMENT already activated.
No action taken to avoid nested environments.

After using exit I could successfully switch pipenv instances. This could well be a bug and I should probably report it.

edited Jun 23 '18 at 04:22

answered Jun 23 '18 at 02:51

Williams

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From my understanding after reading through the issues on GitHub around this topic it isn't a bug. This (https://github.com/pypa/pipenv/issues/84) particular ticket helped enlighten me... in summary, you can open a new shell and proceed as usual, or type `exit` and proceed as usual. – Jarvis Jun 28 '18 at 10:33

ohduran · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-28T14:59:34.200

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UPDATE: See other answers below. As it has been explained, this works for virtualenv, but pipenv works differently.

Just type deactivate on the command line. See the guide here

edited Feb 28 '19 at 14:59

answered Apr 20 '18 at 15:19

ohduran

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The command deactivate would work for virtualenv but the tool used here is pipenv which works differently and the deactivate command will not work. One has to type exit in shell to close the virtual environment spawned by pipenv command. The answer is misleading – Saransh Singh Dec 18 '18 at 15:31
Link to guide is no longer correct – moojen Nov 19 '21 at 13:03

Jigyasu Dhingra · Answer 4 · 2023-05-11T19:26:19.147

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Just type exit, and it will take you out of your shell.

And if you use deactivate, you will probably get the below error when you try to enter the shell again.

Shell for UNKNOWN_VIRTUAL_ENVIRONMENT already activated.
    No action taken to avoid nested environments.

So, it is prefer to use "exit" for quick access.

edited May 11 '23 at 19:26

answered Feb 21 '21 at 08:31

Jigyasu Dhingra

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Quick note, if you have this error you can simply type 'exit' in the affected directory and it should successfully deactivate the pipenv shell. – Olivier Sep 12 '22 at 18:15

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 17 '21 at 17:39

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Deactivate from pipenv virtual environment, you can simply run the following command.

deactivate

answered Sep 17 '21 at 17:39

Mahfuz Khandaker

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score 7 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 08 '19 at 10:53

Please check this topic for answer from contributor perspective:

https://github.com/pypa/pipenv/issues/84#issuecomment-275056943

Spoiler :

pipenv starts a new shell session with the virtualenv pathing instead of changing the pathing in the current shell session. That is why deactivate does not work. you need to exit the shell session. the exit command or CTRL-d will do the trick.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 14 '18 at 04:14

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First "deactivate" and then "exit" you will get out of the virtual env. As of now this worked for me.

answered Dec 14 '18 at 04:14

Chiranjibi Poudyal

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The command `exit` already does the entire job, since `pipenv shell` spawns a new shell process as stated in the end of [this documentation block](https://docs.pipenv.org/en/latest/basics/#example-pipenv-workflow), no need to `deactivate` first. – dandev486 May 08 '19 at 11:26
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It looks like @dandev486 's link is dead and the [new page](https://docs.pipenv.org/basics/#about-shell-configuration) does not really talk about how to exit. The [old docs](https://web.archive.org/web/20190717063720/https://docs.pipenv.org/en/latest/basics/#example-pipenv-workflow), FWIW, said "This will spawn a new shell subprocess, which can be deactivated by using exit.". Personally I think `exit` is still probably the right way to leave an env. – jrh Aug 26 '21 at 15:02

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Apr 28 '23 at 13:42

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If you are using pipenv shell to activate virtual environment, and exit or deactivate doesn't work. Right click and kill terminal. That works for me

edited Apr 28 '23 at 13:42

user16217248

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answered Apr 28 '23 at 12:12

Dennis Mbugua

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Deactivate a pipenv environment

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