python package management with the requirements.txt in IntelliJ

It’s pretty annoying to install packages required for a python project without missing. Especially when the project is copied to a new server, it could take time to install packages. The requirements.txt is popularly used for managing packages to remove this inconvenient situation. IntelliJ provides a python plugin and easy-to-use GUI to handle the requirements.txt.

After installing the python plugin, “Sync Python Requirements…” is shown on the Tools menu.

Just select “Sync Python Requirements,” and then the “Sync Python Requirements” popup window is shown to indicate the requirements.txt file and set the package version control policies.

The following requirements.txt is before applying “Sync Python Requirements.”

Once clicking the OK button on the “Sync Python requirements” popup window, the requirements.txt file will be changed as below. In addition, not listed packages are shown on the file.

The version control policies using the inequality sign are as below, Ref: IntelliJ Official Docuemtns: Manage dependencies using requirements.txt

Method	Example
Strong equality	Django==3.0.3
Greater or equal	Django>=3.0.3
Compatible version	Django~=3.0.3

Python packages on the file can be installed by clicking action buttons on the yellow label on the requirements.txt file.

The following command installs the packages listed on the file.

pip install -r /path/to/requirements.txt