How to upgrade the Python version in a virtual environment

    Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM | 2 min read

    Last modified on Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 2:12 AM

    #fullstack development, #macOS, #django, #pip, #python3, #dependencies, #django commons, #django debug toolbar, #third-party packages, #venv, #virtual environment

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    Table of Contents

    I was working on a new project today (the official Django Polls app tutorial as a matter of fact), and I noticed that my virtual environment was using Python 3.12. But in my project, I am using Python 3.13.0. Using different versions of Python in the virtual environment vs in the code can create problems and conflicts. I had to upgrade my version of Python in my venv folder pronto!

    Activating the virtual environment

    First, I had to make sure that my virtual environment was activated in my project:

    source venv/bin/activate

    Saving my current dependencies

    Next, I had to make sure to save my application's current dependencies:

    pip freeze > requirements.txt

    De-activating the virtual environment

    Next, I had to deactivate the virtual environment:

    deactivate

    Deleting the current venv folder

    Next, I had to delete the current venv folder. That is what I call my virtual environment folder. You might call it something else!

    Creating a new venv folder

    Next, I had to create a new venv folder using 3.13 since that is what I wanted to upgrade to:

    python3.13 -m venv venv

    Re-activating the virtual environment

    Next, I had to re-activate the virtual environment:

    source venv/bin/activate

    Installing saved dependencies

    Next, I had to install my saved dependencies:

    pip install -r requirements.txt

    And that's it!

    Conclusion

    In this post, I showed how to upgrade the Python version being used in a Django application's virtual environment.

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