Settings unexpectedly appearing in the settings.json file

[StellaHuang95]

Eleanor reported an issue where certain settings are unexpectedly added to settings.json, for example:

{
  "python-envs.defaultEnvManager": "ms-python.python:system",
  "python-envs.defaultPackageManager": "ms-python.python:pip",
  "python-envs.pythonProjects": []
}

I was able to reproduce the issue using the following steps:

1. Open a workspace.
2. Ensure python.useEnvironmentsExtension is set to true or that the env extension is active.
3. Open the Command Palette and run “Python: Select Interpreter” or click the interpreter in the status bar.
4. Select a System Python interpreter (choose the global Python install).
5. Check User Settings, notice python-envs.defaultEnvManager: "ms-python.python:system and python-envs.pythonProjects: [] are added.

Will move onto investigating the root cause next.

[netopsengineer]

I can confirm that I too saw this behavior today in Code-Insiders, in my case an interpreter was selected previously, it was removed, and those settings were newly added in my settings.json and un-staged in Git. No messages, questions, or actions were taken by me that I am aware of, my project was simply open in the background for a few hours, and returned with the changes and my linters lighting up the Problems panel (as they were missing an environment now).

Version: 1.109.0-insider
Commit: dfb16008e8bbec7b994c49c6865d4594fa5030ad
Date: 2026-01-23T12:20:49.767Z
Electron: 39.2.7
ElectronBuildId: 13098910
Chromium: 142.0.7444.235
Node.js: 22.21.1
V8: 14.2.231.21-electron.0
OS: Darwin x64 25.2.0