Recently, while working on multiple Python projects, I faced some problems with how scattered my virtual environments were. Some were in the project folders, some outside, and I couldn’t remember which ones were important and which ones I could delete.

There are great tools like Anaconda, Mamba, Poetry, etc. — but they are heavy and come with more features than I needed. I just wanted something lightweight. Something that uses Python’s own built-in venv and lets me keep everything in one place. And I think if you’re just hacking on side projects, scripts, or learning Python — these tools might feel like overkill.

So I wrote venvman — a tiny Bash script to create, activate, delete, and list Python virtual environments. You can find the project on GitHub here.

I didn’t need dependency resolution or Python version management. I just wanted:

• A centralized place for all venvs (no more searching in random project folders)
• A simple CLI command like venvman create myproject
• Quick activation from anywhere in the terminal
• Easy cleanup of unused venvs

That’s it. And I wanted it in one script — no dependencies, no config files, just pure Bash.

What does venvman do? #

Once installed, it gives you these commands:

venvman create <name>     # Create a new virtual environment
vactivate <name>          # Activate an existing environment
vdeactivate <name>        # Deactivate the current venv
venvman list              # See all venvs
venvman delete <name>     # Delete a venv you don’t need anymore

It stores all environments under ~/.venvs/

So now I can do:

venvman create testapi
vactivate testapi

Limitations #

This is not a replacement for Anaconda, Mamba, or Poetry. It does not:

• Manage Python versions (you’ll need pyenv or something similar for that)
• Handle requirements.txt or pyproject.toml
• Install any packages for you It simply wraps the standard python3 -m venv and gives you CLI access to keep it all clean and centralized. Right now, it only works on Linux or Bash-compatible shells. If you’re on macOS (which defaults to zsh) or Windows (CMD or PowerShell), it won’t run without tweaks. But — if you want to help port it, raise a PR.

Installation #

Clone the repo and run the setup:

git clone https://github.com/neo-0007/venvman.git
cd venvman
bash setup.sh

This adds the venvman command globally (via ~/bin) and appends a function + alias to your .bashrc.

To uninstall:

bash uninstall.sh

Fork it. Hack it. Improve it. That’s the fun part :)