Development

Environment setup

Typically on Ubuntu (but should work on Windows).

1. Install virtual environment

Using qgis-venv-creator (see this article) through pipx (sudo apt install pipx):

pipx run qgis-venv-creator

Old school way:

# create virtual environment linking to system packages (for pyqgis)
python3 -m venv .venv --system-site-packages
source .venv/bin/activate

2. Install development dependencies

# bump dependencies inside venv
python -m pip install -U pip
python -m pip install -U -r requirements/development.txt

# install git hooks (pre-commit)
pre-commit install

Dedicated QGIS profile

It’s recommended to create a dedicated QGIS profile for the development of the plugin to avoid conflicts with other plugins.

  1. From the command-line (a terminal with or OSGeo4W Shell):

    # Linux
qgis --profile plg_profile_manager
# Windows - OSGeo4W Shell
qgis-ltr --profile plg_profile_manager
# Windows - PowerShell opened in the QGIS installation directory
PS C:\Program Files\QGIS 3.40.4\LTR\bin> .\qgis-ltr-bin.exe --profile plg_profile_manager

  2. Then, set the QGIS_PLUGINPATH environment variable to the path of the plugin in profile preferences:

    QGIS - Add QGIS_PLUGINPATH environment variable in profile settings

  3. Finally, enable the plugin in the plugin manager (ignore invalid folders like documentation, tests, etc.):

    QGIS - Enable the plugin in the plugin manager