Fixing VSCode Auto-Import with Python UV

Problem

When using Python’s uv package manager in package mode (--package), I encountered issues with VSCode’s auto-import functionality. Specifically, VSCode stopped providing import suggestions, which significantly hindered my workflow.

Solution

To restore auto-import functionality in VSCode when using uv in package mode, follow these steps:

1. Modify hatchling Configuration: Add the dev-mode-exact option to your hatchling configuration. This setting ensures that development dependencies are treated as exact versions.
2. Add editables Dependency: Include editables as a development dependency. This package, along with the dev-mode-exact setting, helps create the necessary files in the site-packages directory for VSCode to correctly resolve imports.

Here’s the updated pyproject.toml configuration:

[project]
    name = "demo-bug"
    version = "0.1.0"
    description = "Add your description here"
    readme = "README.md"
    authors = [{ name = "your name", email = "mymail" }]
    requires-python = ">=3.12"
    dependencies = []

    [project.scripts]
        demo-bug = "demo_bug:main"

[build-system]
    build-backend = "hatchling.build"
    requires = ["hatchling"]

# https://hatch.pypa.io/1.12/config/build/#dev-mode
# https://microsoft.github.io/pyright/#/import-resolution?id=editable-installs
# requires package "editables"
[tool.hatch.build]
    dev-mode-exact = true

[dependency-groups]
    dev = ["editables>=0.5"]

3. Sync Dependencies: Run uv sync to update your project’s dependencies based on the modified pyproject.toml file.
4. Restart VSCode: After syncing, restart VSCode or use the “Clear Cache and Reload Window” command to ensure the changes take effect. The Python extension will then recreate its cache, and auto-import should start working.

This solution has been tested with Python 3.12 and Python 3.13.

Future Improvements

The underlying issues in uv and the VSCode Python extension are being tracked in these GitHub issues:

• https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/issues/9637
• https://github.com/microsoft/pylance-release/issues/7242

My fix has been shared in the VSCode extension issue, and the developers are likely to implement a more comprehensive solution in future releases, eliminating the need for this workaround.