As a Python developer, having the right tools can make all the difference in your productivity and efficiency. PyCharm by JetBrains is one of the most popular Python IDEs, offering robust functionality out of the box. However, PyCharm‘s plugin ecosystem allows you to customize and enhance your development environment even further.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share my top 15 favorite PyCharm plugins for Python developers. These plugins provide useful capabilities like AI-powered autocompletion, better code navigation, handy text manipulations, and more. Let‘s get started!
1. Tabnine Autocompletion
Tabnine is an AI-based autocompletion tool that can dramatically boost your productivity. As you type code, it will suggest relevant completions drawing from millions of open source projects. The suggestions are highly accurate and allow you to code faster.
Some key features:
- Contextual predictions tuned for Python
- Support for PyTorch, Pandas, NumPy APIs
- Fuzzy matching to correct typos
- Works for all file types like Python, JSON, YAML etc.
Overall, Tabnine can save you countless keystrokes during your coding sessions. The free plan is good enough for most developers.
2. Key Promoter X
Learning keyboard shortcuts is essential for efficient coding. Key Promoter X makes mastering PyCharm shortcuts easy by showing a notification every time you use the mouse for an action that has a shortcut available.
You can then press the shortcut to dismiss the popup. This gentle gamification ensures you will subconsciously remember shortcuts for common actions like running code, debugging, refactoring, and more. Customizable timeouts and rules make Key Promoter X a delight to use.
3. Rainbow Brackets
Dealing with nested brackets can get visually confusing quickly. That‘s where Rainbow Brackets comes into play. This plugin color codes matching brackets so you can clearly distinguish between enclosures across levels.
Customization settings allow tweaking colors, bracket types, background colors for enhanced scanability. If you deal with code having deeply nested constructs, Rainbow Brackets is a life saver!
4. String Manipulation
Tedious text manipulation operations needed for coding can waste precious minutes. String Manipulation automates over 50 different string operations via an easy to use GUI popup.
Just select the text snippet and apply capitalization, encoding/decoding, concatenation, sorting, duplicates removal etc. in a snap. Multiple lines can also be aligned, indented or trimmed as per configurable rules. This handy tool eliminates boring busywork while writing code.
5. AceJump
Quick code navigation with only the keyboard is a hallmark of coding efficiency. AceJump allows effortlessly jumping to any location visible within the editor using keyboard shortcuts.
Press Ctrl + ; and you get letter markers mapped to every word/token across all lines. Press the marker key to directly hop there. Common actions like start/end of line also get single key mappings. AceJump is perhaps the fastest way to fly through code files once the keyboard shortcuts become second nature.
6. .ignore
Spelling out gitignore rules for ignoring files/folders can be tedious. .ignore generates the patterns automatically by right clicking folders or file types that need to be ignored within the PyCharm interface itself.
The plugin also suggests public gitignore templates for Python, Django, Jupyter etc. to ignore commonly ignored patterns for that tech stack. Useful prompts are also shown when checking in files to Git so you don‘t accidentally add ignored files. The .ignore plugin takes away gitignore headaches!
7. Grep Console
PyCharm‘s built-in console allows running and debugging Python code interactively. Sifting through its output can be facilitated using Grep Console.
It provides instant filtering, highlighting and colors within the console to quickly spot important info. Multiple filters can be combined using logical operators and regular expressions for complex log analysis. Grep Console reduces debugging frustration and is a must have PyCharm addon.
8. SonarLint
SonarLint performs static analysis of Python code to catch bugs, code smells, vulnerabilities and errors as you type. It integrates with PyCharm‘s editor to provide instant feedback about problems and solutions via clear markers in the gutter area.
Quick fixes allow applying suggestions easily to eliminate complex issues like null pointers, race conditions etc. Support for custom SonarQube rules also available. By promoting good coding standards, SonarLint prevents accumulation of technical debt within projects.
9. .env files support
Loading environment variables from .env files instead of exporting them manually simplifies Python app configuration. The DotENV plugin brings this capability natively inside PyCharm.
Environment variables declared within .env files become automatically available to Python code without extra imports. Syntax highlighting, autocompletions and linting further streamline usage. Now switching between environments and managing configs becomes breeze!
10. DeepSource AI
Deepsource applies AI based static analysis tailored specifically for Python to provide intelligent feedback about code quality issues, bugs, performance opportunities etc.
The rich contextual guidance enables writing clean Pythonic code that follows industry best practices. One click code fixes mean you don‘t have to memorize styling guidelines. DeepSource continually monitors code health while guaranteeing full privacy since data remains completely on premise.
11. CodeGlance
CodeGlance embeds a code minimap similar to Sublime Text within PyCharm‘s editor. It provides a zoomed out birds-eye view of the entire source file being edited.
Clicking within the minimap instantly repositions editor focus to that line. Fast side scrolling, current line highlighter, clickable links between source view and minimap make LightGlance immensely useful for quick global code navigation. Reduced scrolling coupled with more structure awareness increases speed considerably.
12. Atom Material Icons
The default file type icons in PyCharm IDE feel dated. Atom Material Icons replaces them with a gorgeous modern icon pack having Material Design theme.
Over 20 unique icons represent various file categories like images, archives, configs, scripts, UI files etc. Vibrant colors, appealing shapes and handcrafted designs blend beautifully across operating systems. Note taking becomes more creative with specialized icons for Markdown, Jupyter and reST files. The Atom Material icon theme brings joy to daily coding!
13. Django
The official Django plugin from JetBrains supercharges development workflows for this popular Python web framework. It adds specialized support at every stage – project setup, apps configuration, templates editing, debugging variable contexts etc.
Dedicated UI actions provided for numerous Django functionalities eliminate need for memorizing specific commands. Further productivity boost comes via code inspections tailored for Django APIs, runway icon overlays for DB aliases, API docs tooltips etc. Django developers feel right at home inside PyCharm working with this feature packed plugin!
14. REST API Console
Testing REST APIs without run/debug configuration setup can involve painful curl commands. The REST API Console plugin allows sending API requests directly within PyCharm and examine responses.
It supports GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE verbs with custom headers and basic auth configuration. The interactive editor simplifies building JSON payloads with syntax validation. Code snippets allow reuse of frequent requests. Response syntax highlighting coupled with pretty printing aids analysis. No more context switching away from code to validate APIs!
15. PYMATE.io Integration
PYMATE.io provides intelligent code completion powered by AI trained on millions of Python code snippets. As you type code, it suggests relevant method calls and parameters in line with prevailing API usage idioms.
Additional productivity boost comes from deep context analysis around objects and named entities. PYMATE auto imports missing modules and handles renaming refactors seamlessly. Signup via GitHub account provides access to unlimited public repositories for powering the AI engine. PYMATE takes auto-complete to the next level!
Bonus: Nyan Progress Bar
This one doesn‘t directly boost productivity but instantly makes you smile! The whimsical Nyan progress bar replaces PyCharm‘s default indicator with an animated flying cat with a rainbow trail!
Customizations around colors, ears, tail, animation triggers and reduced CPU usage prevent it from getting annoying. It‘s impossible not to feel a rush of dopamine seeing the Nyan cat strut about during long running tasks like builds and deployments. Absolute mood lifter!
PyCharm provides excellent out-of-the-box support for Python coding. But installing some plugins unlocks further productivity superpowers specifically aimed at Pythonic development workflows. Faster navigation, intelligent assistance, customized UIs and automated fixes take your efficiency to the next level.
I hope this hand curated list of best PyCharm plugins gives a nice boost to your own Python programming endeavours! Let me know in comments about any other useful addons for PyCharm you recommend. Happy coding!
