Repository navigation
Debugpy extension in VSCode adds to the global path without leading with semicolon resulting in fake path name #843
Description
New to VSCode and extension, followed mostly Claude's advice and had a good session, but on the next day when opening the terminal and trying to run claude code agian it was just nowhere to be found.
After using the claude's extension in VSCode instead I wanted to know why it was gone and we found that the extension was adding its paths to the user path variable, but without prefixing it with a semicolon.
Path with the extension:
PATH=C:\Users\suppo\Documents\Fuvas\test1\venv\Scripts;C:\Python314\Scripts;C:\Python314;C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-7.1.0-Q8;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Intuit\QBPOSSDKRuntime;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\Scripts;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\160\DTS\Binn;C:\Program Files\Azure Data Studio\bin;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\bin;C:\Program Files\Azure Data Studio\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Python\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Python\scripts;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\npmc:\Users\suppo.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.14.1-win32-x64\bundled\scripts\noConfigScript
Path with the extension turned OFF:
PATH=C:\Users\suppo\Documents\Fuvas\test1\venv\Scripts;C:\Python314\Scripts;C:\Python314;C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-7.1.0-Q8;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Intuit\QBPOSSDKRuntime;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\Scripts;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\160\DTS\Binn;C:\Program Files\Azure Data Studio\bin;C:\Program Files\nodejs;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\GitHubDesktop\bin;C:\Program Files\Azure Data Studio\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Python\bin;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Local\Python\scripts;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\npm;C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\npm
The error is in "npmc:" in the path with the extension enabled.
Activity
eleanorjboyd commentedon Oct 29, 2025
Hi! Is this an error with the claude code extension or with the python debugger extension?
kolevbg commentedon Nov 1, 2025
I realize my post wasn't clear, apologies.
I don't think this had anything to do with Claude other than it being active and helping me through it.
For one, if you look at the higher path you will find the problem in
"C:\Users\suppo\AppData\Roaming\npmc:\Users\suppo.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.14.1-win32-x64\bundled\scripts\noConfigScript"
This leaves it down to these options:
I.e. theoretically I can't claim I know for a fact this is python debugger installer fault; it is just the most likely, but certainly not the only, explanation looking at the path and the fact that disabling it took care of the problem.
eleanorjboyd commentedon Nov 11, 2025
sorry for the delay here- will investigate
ccll commentedon Nov 17, 2025
For me it's also ms-python.debugpy.
Added a fake dir to the PATH list, now the final PATH is correct:
sunavlis commentedon Feb 6, 2026
Eleanor Boyd (@eleanorjboyd) any update? I see the same bug as well.
maribox commentedon Feb 17, 2026
I have the same issue
I also have claude code installed.
rchiodo commentedon Feb 17, 2026
The fix for this should show up in the next prerelease build.