IntelliJ + Python plugin: Python remote interpreter gets created without classpath, does not work

Question

When I create a new remote Python interpreter, IntelliJ doesn't find any dependencies to my code and doesn't seem to index any libraries. Most of the code is red. I think I've pinpointed that to the "classpath" being completely empty, which is unlike some other Python SDKs that I have added (local ones). Some of the times I am able to get it to populate the classpath with paths pointing to the IntelliJ Caches directory by clicking around in the interface, but I most of the times it does not work and I cannot reproduce how to make it work. How do I make sure the classpath gets populated correctly?

I am using IntelliJ Ultimate version 2016.2.1. with the Python plugin version 2016.2.162.43. I am developing on a Vagrant virtual machine and I'm adding a Python remote interpreter that is inside a virtual environment (venv) inside the virtual machine. When I add the remote interpreter, I use:

• On the SDKs tab - the + button.
• Python SDK
• Add Remote
• I select the Vagrant option
• Point it to my Vagrant project directory.
• Point it to the python3.5 executable inside my virtualenv
• Add the SDK

Then the classpath looks like this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3xbzopb4y9bhn0u/Screenshot%202016-08-11%2017.19.43.png?dl=0 and IntelliJ doesn't recognize any libraries/builtins. For other SDKs, the classpath contains several entries with remote_sources, python_stubs or python-skeletons in the name and they work.

Answer 1

While this issue is a bit older, I had the same issue today with IntelliJ IDEA 2021.2.

I was able to solve this by using Navigate -> Search Everywhere -> Type interpreter -> Select Rescan Available Python Modules and Packages.

This prompted downloading of the remote resources and indexing. Afterwards, the classpaths were filled in properly.

Answer 2

As a workaround, I copied every entry from the local python interpreter classpath to the remote one and everything seems to work

Edit:

Actually, I don't know what triggered it, but some days after I wrote this, I noticed that IDEA started downloading source files from the server. I went to the interpreter settings, and the classpath entries I had manually added were gone and replaced by "system/remote_resources" entries. I think this is how it's supposed to work, but unfortunately I don't why I didn't work from the start nor how to trigger the correct behavior, it just started working on its own.