Workspace environment variable ${workspaceFolder} is not being set/empty on WSL

[enda-quantmatix]

Type: Bug

I develop using WSL on my Windows machine. I use the Remote plugin to connect to my Ubuntu 22.04 instance and open folders from there.

Issue:

I have been running into a consistent problem where my ${workspaceFolder} environment variable is not being set, it is empty. I have confirmed this by setting my "PYTHONPATH" to "PYTHONPATH=${workspaceFolder}" in a .env file and from the terminal, after loading in variables from this .env file I run echo $PYTHONPATH and it returns empty. I have double checked this by opening the same folder in vscode running on Windows and it is set correctly here. The correct path should be "/home/enda/QuantStudies"

Running on WSL using Remote plugin:

Opened folder workspace:

Empty python path variable which should be set to ${workspaceFolder}

.env file used to set the PYTHONPATH to the ${workspaceFolder}

Confirmed this gets set when I open the same repo on Windows

VS Code version: Code 1.97.1 (e249dada235c2083c83813bd65b7f4707fb97b76, 2025-02-10T13:13:58.153Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100
Modes:
Remote OS version: Linux x64 5.15.133.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700H (20 x 2918)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off
Load (avg)	undefined
Memory (System)	63.68GB (36.99GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id 7257fdfd-9e42-4679-885c-0a54843c85bf
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Item	Value
Remote	WSL: Ubuntu
OS	Linux x64 5.15.133.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
CPUs	13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700H (20 x 0)
Memory (System)	47.05GB (41.62GB free)
VM	0%

Extensions (115)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
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docs-view	bie	0.1.0
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jupyter-keymap	ms-	1.1.2
remote-containers	ms-	0.397.0
remote-ssh	ms-	0.117.1
remote-ssh-edit	ms-	0.87.0
remote-wsl	ms-	0.88.5
vscode-remote-extensionpack	ms-	0.26.0
remote-explorer	ms-	0.4.3
remote-server	ms-	1.5.2
gruvbox-material	sai	6.5.2
swdc-vscode	sof	2.8.3
open-in-browser	tec	2.0.0
errorlens	use	3.23.0
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vscode-markdownlint	Dav	0.58.2
docs-article-templates	doc	1.0.8
docs-authoring-pack	doc	1.0.2
docs-build	doc	0.4.6
docs-images	doc	1.0.4
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docs-preview	doc	1.0.9
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docs-yaml	doc	1.0.5
githistory	don	0.6.20
python-environment-manager	don	1.2.7
python-extension-pack	don	1.7.0
parquet-viewer	dvi	2.11.1
gitlens	eam	16.3.0
prettier-vscode	esb	11.0.0
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vsc-python-indent	Kev	1.19.0
Learn-Training-AI-Assistant	Lea	1.1.53
rainbow-csv	mec	3.17.0
mssql-extensions-starter-pack	MEn	0.2.0
mssql-scripts	MEn	0.4.0
mssql-snippets	MEn	0.4.0
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prettify-json	moh	0.0.3
azure-dev	ms-	0.8.4
vscode-azure-github-copilot	ms-	0.3.97
vscode-azureappservice	ms-	0.25.4
vscode-azurecontainerapps	ms-	0.8.0
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vscode-azurevirtualmachines	ms-	0.6.6
vscode-cosmosdb	ms-	0.24.2
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csdevkit	ms-	1.16.6
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vscode-dotnet-runtime	ms-	2.2.8
vscodeintellicode-csharp	ms-	2.2.3
data-workspace-vscode	ms-	0.5.0
mssql	ms-	1.28.0
sql-bindings-vscode	ms-	0.4.0
sql-database-projects-vscode	ms-	1.4.5
debugpy	ms-	2025.0.1
python	ms-	2025.0.0
vscode-pylance	ms-	2025.2.1
datawrangler	ms-	1.18.2
jupyter	ms-	2025.1.0
jupyter-keymap	ms-	1.1.2
jupyter-renderers	ms-	1.1.0
vscode-jupyter-cell-tags	ms-	0.1.9
vscode-jupyter-slideshow	ms-	0.1.6
azurecli	ms-	0.6.0
cmake-tools	ms-	1.19.52
cpptools	ms-	1.23.6
cpptools-extension-pack	ms-	1.3.0
vscode-node-azure-pack	ms-	1.3.0
sqltools	mtx	0.28.3
sqltools-driver-mssql	mtx	0.4.3
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gruvbox-material	sai	6.5.2
markdown-preview-enhanced	shd	0.8.15
swdc-vscode	sof	2.8.3
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find-it-faster	Tom	0.0.39
cmake	twx	0.0.17
errorlens	use	3.23.0
vscode-lldb	vad	1.11.3
intellicode-api-usage-examples	Vis	0.2.9
vscodeintellicode	Vis	1.3.2
vscode-icons	vsc	12.11.0
vscode-todo-highlight	way	1.0.5
gruvbox-concoctis	whe	10.30.27
jinja	who	0.0.8
zoombar-vscode	wra	1.4.4
markdown-all-in-one	yzh	3.6.2
json	Zai	2.0.2

(14 theme extensions excluded)

A/B Experiments

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vspor879:30202332
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vspor363:30204092
pythonvspyt551:31179978
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binariesv615:30325510
py29gd2263:31024239
vscaac:30438847
c4g48928:30535728
azure-dev_surveyone:30548225
2i9eh265:30646982
962ge761:30959799
h48ei257:31000450
pythontbext0:30879054
cppperfnew:31000557
dwnewjupytercf:31046870
nativerepl2:31139839
pythonrstrctxt:31112756
nativeloc2:31192216
iacca1:31171482
5fd0e150:31155592
dwcopilot:31170013
stablechunks:31184530
6074i472:31201624
hdaa2157:31222309
copilot_t_ci:31222730
cp15172_c:31236637
jda6j935:31233686

[aeschli]

${workspaceFolder} is a VS Code internal variable that can be used with certain VS Code settings or in VS Code launch configurations.
You can't use it in .env files unless you have defined an OS env variable with that name.
When running on WSL, OS env variables are defined through the shell configuration scripts like .bashrc or can be exported from Windows. VS Code doesn't add or remove anything here.

[enda-quantmatix]

Thanks for the response and the clarification.

I forgot to add that I do also have a settings.json where I also try to set the PYTHONPATH using the ${workspaceFolder}. However, I just discovered that the setting I was using was for Windows and not Linux!

I added
"terminal.integrated.env.linux": { "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}" },
and that has fixed my issue