Configuration reference
Blender Development separates settings belonging to one project from settings shared by the PyCharm application.
Project settings
Section titled “Project settings”Open Project Blender Manager to edit these values.
| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Blender installation | Detected executable or application bundle used for launches. |
| Custom installation path | Executable or application bundle outside the detected list. |
| Add-on symlink name | Runtime identity; spaces and hyphens are normalized to underscores. |
| Project source folder | Source root loaded by Blender. |
| Run arguments | Additional Blender command-line arguments. |
| Log level | Value passed to Blender’s --log-level option. |
| Reload on Save | Reloads the add-on after file saves during Debug sessions. |
| Just my code | Limits debugger stepping to project code. |
| Environment variables | Project launch variables; these override global duplicates. |
| Script directories | Additional add-on roots or directories containing add-on roots. |
The manager groups installation selection under Executable Settings, launch behavior under Run and Debug, and paths and variables under Environment. Changes are saved as you edit them; there is no separate Apply action.
Detected installations are cached at application scope and populate the selector when a project opens. Use the refresh action beside the selector to scan again. Enable Use a custom installation path for an executable or macOS application bundle outside the detected list.
The project records the API-stub requirement installed during project creation. Choose the target Blender version and whether to install matching stubs in the New Project wizard.
Application settings
Section titled “Application settings”Open Settings > Tools > Blender Development to edit settings shared across projects.
| Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Blender installation root | Destination for managed Blender applications and an additional discovery root. |
| Download path | Directory used to cache downloaded Blender archives. |
| Minimum Blender version | Oldest minor release checked during online version discovery. |
| Log path | Destination for plugin logs. |
| Global environment variables | Base variables applied to every Blender launch. |
The minimum Blender version defaults to 4.2 and uses major.minor format. Online discovery keeps the newest available patch
for each minor release in the offline cache.
Blender version management
Section titled “Blender version management”The Blender Versions table starts with the offline cache and shows minor releases returned by online discovery. It also shows mapped Python versions and detected installation status when that data is available.
- Refresh Versions checks Blender’s release index and updates cached patch versions.
- Clear Version Cache removes online-discovered releases and restores the built-in compatibility table.
- Scan Installations scans supported locations and refreshes installation status.
- Install Selected downloads and extracts the official host-compatible Blender archive into the managed installation root.
- Delete Selected removes a selected managed installation. Installations outside the managed root are not removed.
Notifications report manual refresh, installation, deletion, and cache-clear results. Diagnostic details are written to the plugin log. When the plugin starts without a valid cache, it schedules a background refresh.
Environment precedence
Section titled “Environment precedence”For each launch, the plugin applies global environment variables first and project variables second. A project value wins when both scopes define the same key.