Auto virtualenvwrapper activates virtualenv automatically when called. To use auto-virtualenvwrapper set hooks for `auto-virtualenvwrapper-activate' For example: (require 'auto-virtualenvwrapper) (add-hook 'python-mode-hook #'auto-virtualenvwrapper-activate) (add-hook 'projectile-after-switch-project-hook #'auto-virtualenvwrapper-activate)