How to Install the PyCharm Python IDE in Linux

Get going with Python on Linux

PyCharm Home Screen
by Gary Newell
An application developer and software tester with more than 20 years in the IT industry working on Windows, UNIX and Linux.
Updated July 18, 2019

PyCharm — the cross-platform integrated development environment for Python developed by JetBrains — works well on Linux platforms. It's installed from an archive file, although JetBrains also supplies a snap package for Ubuntu.

These instructions were written for PyCharm 2019.1. They will work with any Linux distribution.

System Requirements

PyCharm requires a computer with a minimum of 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended) and 2.5 GB of disk space, as well as a display with a minimum resolution of 1024-by-768 pixels.

You must already have installed either Python 2 (2.6.x or 2.7.x series) or Python 3 (3.4.x or higher).

JetBrains recommends a 64-bit Linux distribution and the KDE, Gnome, or Unity desktop environments.

The installer bundles a 64-bit version of JRE, but not a 32-bit version, so if you're on a 32-bit distribution, you'll need to install 32-bit JRE separately.

How to Install PyCharm for Linux

The universal method for installing PyCharm involves downloading the zipped archive then unpacking it into the /opt directory.

  1. Download PyCharm from the JetBrains website. Select a local folder for the archive file wherein you can execute the tar command.

  2. Install PyCharm. The standard and recommended location is /opt, although you can modify this selection if necessary. Run the following command:

    sudo tar xfz pycharm-*.tar.gz -C /opt/

  3. Run pycharm.sh from the bin subdirectory:

    cd /opt/pycharm-*/bin
    ./pycharm.sh

  4. Complete the first-time-run wizard to get started.

How to Install PyCharm for Ubuntu Linux

On Ubuntu 16.04 and higher versions, use a snap package instead:

sudo snap install pycharm-community --classic

Then run pycharm-community in the terminal.

Instead of pycharm-community, you could also install snap packages for pycharm-professional or pycharm-educational, if you're appropriately licensed for them.