Fix Pylsp Closure: Venv-selector.nvim Auto-Activation Guide

Hey guys! Ever found yourself in that frustrating loop where your trusty Pylsp just closes unexpectedly when venv-selector.nvim tries to automatically activate your Python virtual environments? You're not alone. This particular head-scratcher often pops up when you're relying on the convenience of cached venvs or those zippy uv venvs, making your coding flow a bit bumpy. It's a real buzzkill when your Language Server Protocol (LSP) features, like auto-completion and linting, suddenly vanish right when you need them most. We're talking about a situation where venv-selector.nvim, a fantastic plugin for managing your virtual environments, tries to be smart and switch things up for you, but then Pylsp decides to take an unscheduled break. This specific issue usually doesn't occur if you set cached_venv_automatic_activation = false and opt for manual activation, which kinda defeats the purpose of the automation, right? The core of the problem seems to lie in how pylsp is being shut down and restarted during this automatic switching process, leading to a sort of communication breakdown between Neovim's LSP client management and the server itself. We're going to dive deep into what's happening, especially with those cryptic VenvSelectLog messages, and figure out how to get your development environment back to being smooth and productive. So, grab a coffee, and let's unravel this mystery together to make your Neovim Python development experience seamless once again. Our goal is to ensure that pylsp remains stable and responsive, even with venv-selector.nvim working its magic in the background, making your Python virtual environment management a breeze instead of a headache. The unresponsive client warning and the TimeoutError hint at a race condition or a timing issue that we'll meticulously explore to provide you with robust solutions.

Understanding the Pylsp Auto-Activation Predicament

Alright, let's kick things off by really digging into the pylsp auto-activation predicament. Imagine you're deep in thought, coding away, and then BAM! Your Pylsp connection drops out of nowhere, usually right after venv-selector.nvim has done its job of automatically activating a cached or uv virtual environment. This isn't just a minor annoyance, guys; it's a significant disruption to your workflow. When Pylsp, which is your python-lsp-server, stops working, you lose all those wonderful LSP features that make coding in Neovim a joy: intelligent auto-completion, real-time linting, go-to definition, refactoring tools, and more. It's like suddenly losing your roadmap and having to navigate a complex city blindfolded. The context of linux-cultist and venv-selector.nvim is crucial here because these are the tools orchestrating the environment switch. venv-selector.nvim is designed to streamline your Python virtual environment management, making it effortless to jump between projects with different dependencies. The idea is brilliant: as you open a file, it detects the correct virtual environment, activates it, and ideally, restarts your LSP client, pylsp, to pick up the new environment's installed packages. However, when pylsp fails to restart correctly, this automation backfires, leaving you with a broken LSP client and a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right.

What's particularly interesting is that this error only manifests when venv-selector.nvim is set to automatically activate cached or uv venvs. If you disable this automatic activation by setting cached_venv_automatic_activation = false and then manually select or activate your virtual environment, everything works just fine. This critical piece of information tells us that the problem isn't necessarily with pylsp itself, or venv-selector.nvim in isolation, but rather in the interaction during a rapid, automated switch. The manual process introduces a tiny, perhaps imperceptible, delay or a different sequence of operations that allows pylsp to shut down and restart gracefully. In the automated scenario, it seems like pylsp isn't getting enough time, or the right signals, to perform a clean exit before venv-selector.nvim attempts to bring it back online with new settings. This often points towards a race condition or a timing issue where one component expects another to be ready, but it isn't. Understanding this fundamental difference between manual and automatic activation is the first big step towards diagnosing and ultimately solving this vexing Neovim LSP problem. We're essentially trying to figure out why the automated venv switching, a feature designed for convenience, is instead causing pylsp to stumble and fall, impacting our beloved developer experience and making Python development in Neovim less efficient than it should be.

Diving Deep into the VenvSelectLog Messages

Alright, let's put on our detective hats and dive deep into the VenvSelectLog messages that you shared. This log is our best clue, guys, for understanding exactly what's going awry when Pylsp closes during automatic venv-selector.nvim activation. The timestamps are super helpful, showing us a rapid sequence of events that ultimately leads to the TimeoutError. Let's break it down line by line to pinpoint the exact failure point.

First, we see: 2025-11-03 09:55:25 [DEBUG]: Restarting LSP client: pylsp (id: 1). This is venv-selector.nvim doing what it's supposed to do: acknowledging that the environment has changed and initiating a restart of the pylsp LSP client. So far, so good – the intention is correct.

Next: 2025-11-03 09:55:25 [DEBUG]: Using vim.lsp.enable(false) for server: pylsp. Here, the plugin is attempting to disable the currently running pylsp server. This is crucial because it needs to be shut down before it can be properly restarted with the new virtual environment's settings. This is where the plot thickens, as subsequent lines reveal.

What follows is a series of messages indicating a problem: 2025-11-03 09:55:25 [DEBUG]: Client pylsp (id: 1) still running, attempt 1/10 and this line repeats, counting up to attempt 10/10. This is the smoking gun, guys. It clearly shows that venv-selector.nvim (or Neovim's LSP client management) is repeatedly checking if pylsp has stopped, and for a full second, pylsp is still stubbornly hanging around. This means the vim.lsp.enable(false) command isn't having the immediate, synchronous effect that venv-selector.nvim expects. The client isn't gracefully shutting down as quickly as the plugin needs it to, leading to a bottleneck.

Then, the log issues a critical warning: 2025-11-03 09:55:26 [WARNING]: Client pylsp (id: 1) doesn't respond to vim.lsp.enable, skipping restart - client won't get new venv settings. This explicitly states the consequence of pylsp being unresponsive: venv-selector.nvim gives up trying to restart it, meaning the LSP client will not be configured with the new virtual environment's paths and dependencies. This explains why your LSP features break – pylsp is running, but it's operating in the context of the old environment, or in a broken state because it couldn't fully transition.

Finally, the rpc pylsp stderr provides the ultimate piece of the puzzle: 2025-11-03 17:55:27,149 CST - WARNING - pylsp.workspace - There was an error while trying to initialize progress reporting... raise TimeoutError() TimeoutError. This shows that Pylsp eventually does close, but it's because it hit an internal TimeoutError while trying to initialize progress reporting. This specific error suggests that pylsp itself might be slow to shut down or initialize its internal components, especially when subjected to a rapid restart. It's not a clean shutdown; it's a forced exit due to an internal timeout. The skip_token_initialization=True suggestion within the error message is a strong hint from pylsp itself about a potential workaround for this specific internal bottleneck.

Connecting these dots, we see a clear sequence: venv-selector.nvim tries to shut down pylsp quickly. pylsp doesn't respond fast enough, possibly due to a blocking operation or slowness in its own shutdown/initialization phase (like with progress reporting). venv-selector.nvim times out waiting for pylsp to stop and gives up on restarting it correctly. Meanwhile, pylsp eventually crashes internally due to a timeout related to its progress reporting, leaving it in a broken state that can be manually fixed later, but isn't handled by the automation. This is a classic example of a race condition where the timing between two processes is misaligned, leading to unexpected behavior. The difference between vim.lsp.enable(false) not working and pylsp later timing out is key here – the vim.lsp.enable might not be forceful enough or synchronous enough for venv-selector.nvim's expectations, giving pylsp enough time to hit its own internal timeout during a botched shutdown/startup sequence. This intricate dance of timings is precisely why we're seeing this pylsp auto-activation failure and why meticulous log analysis is so vital in debugging such nuanced Neovim LSP issues.

Why Automatic Activation Fails: The "Still Running" Conundrum

Let's really dig into why automatic activation fails and talk about this **