Local Environment Setup for DeepLabCut & VS Code¶

This guide walks through setting up Anaconda, Python 3.10, DeepLabCut (v3.0.0rc10), and Jupyter/VS Code on your local machine for video annotation.

---

Step 1: Install Anaconda¶

Windows¶

Open PowerShell and run:

curl.exe -L -o Anaconda3-Windows-x86_64.exe https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.06-1-Windows-x86_64.exe

Start-Process -FilePath ".\Anaconda3-Windows-x86_64.exe" -ArgumentList "/InstallationType=JustMe /RegisterPython=0 /S /D=$env:USERPROFILE\anaconda3" -Wait

& "$env:USERPROFILE\anaconda3\Scripts\conda.exe" "init" "powershell" 

Close PowerShell and reopen it. You should now see (base) before your command prompt: (base) PS C:\Users\xyz

Mac OS/Linux¶

curl -O https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2024.06-1-MacOSX-arm64.sh

bash Anaconda3-2024.06-1-MacOSX-arm64.sh

source ~/.bashrc

---

Step 2: Create Conda Environment¶

Run in terminal/Powershell:

conda create --name DeepLabCut python=3.10
conda activate DeepLabCut

'DeepLabCut' is your environment name

---

Step 3: Install DeepLabCut & Dependencies (DLC, ipython, ipykernel, jupyter)¶

Windows (Tested Dependency Pins)¶

To prevent PyTorch DLL initialization failures, NumPy 2.x breaking changes, and PySide6/Napari GUI crashes, use the pinned versions below:

conda install -y -c conda-forge mkl intel-openmp

pip install "deeplabcut[gui,modelzoo]==3.0.0rc10" ipython ipykernel jupyter "numpy<2.0.0" "torch==2.3.1" "torchvision==0.18.1" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu "pyside6==6.5.3" "shiboken6==6.5.3" "napari==0.5.4" "app-model==0.3.0" "vispy==0.14.3" appdirs numpydoc jsonschema magicgui "napari-svg" "napari-plugin-engine>=0.1.9" 

MacOS/Linux¶

pip install "deeplabcut[gui,modelzoo]==3.0.0rc10" ipython ipykernel jupyter

---

Step 4: Register your Conda environment as a Jupyter kernel (so it appears in Jupyter and VS Code)¶

python -m ipykernel install --user --name DeepLabCut --display-name "Python (DeepLabCut)"

---

Step 5: Test GUI¶

python -m deeplabcut

Step 6: Install Visual Studio (VS) Code¶

1. Go to the VS Code Website: https://code.visualstudio.com/
2. Download VS Code:
   • Click the "Download for [Your Operating System]" button (e.g., Windows, macOS, Linux)
3. Install VS Code:
   • Run the installer:
     • On Windows, follow the on-screen instructions. Select "Add to PATH" and "Install Code extensions" options.
     • On macOS, drag the VS Code application to the Applications folder.
     • On Linux, follow the instructions provided for your specific distribution.
4. Launch VS Code:
   • Open VS Code:
     • Windows/macOS: Search for "Visual Studio Code" in your system's search bar.
     • Linux: Run code from the terminal.
5. Install the Python Extension
   • Open VS Code.
   • Click on the Extensions icon (on the left sidebar, looks like four squares).
   • Search for "Python" and click "Install" on the extension published by Microsoft.