# Launching REPL with older version in VSCode

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** vscode\
**Created:** [May 21, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218 "2025-05-21T13:38:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bill\_Holmes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bill_holmes/32/47921_2.png) [@Bill\_Holmes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Bill_Holmes)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218/1 "2025-05-21T13:38:44Z")

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Hello all. I have an older julia project that I need to work on. My current latest julia version is v1.11 but my project environment is built around v1.9. I want to launch a julia REPL within VSCode (e.g. Julia: Start REPL) that launches v1.9.

1. I am using juliaup and have both v1.9 and 1.11 avaliable.
2. I have changed the vscode environment to v1.9

 ![Screenshot 2025-05-21 at 9.31.18 AM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/0/c/0cb9722f7f859eb4f335f23d3670ad2a4313b4c7.png)

1. I have changed the executablePATH in settings.json

“julia.executablePath”: “/Users/wrholmes/.julia/environments/v1.9”,  
“julia.languageServerExecutablePath”: “/Users/wrholmes/.julia/environments/v1.9”

1. I’ve restarted VSCode to ensure everything takes.

However, when I start a VSCode REPL, it always starts in v1.11.4. I can easily start a REPL from terminal with v1.9. But that is not a VSCode REPL.

Is there a way to start a VSCode REPL with an old version? I’ve found a number of topics on this but they all point to changing the executablePATH, which I have done.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218/2 "2025-05-21T14:20:33Z")

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> [@Bill\_Holmes](#):
>
> “julia.languageServerExecutablePath”: “/Users/wrholmes/.julia/environments/v1.9”

If you’re using `juliaup` you shouldn’t have a Julia installation at that location, it would be something like

```julia
Users/wrholmes/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.9.4+0.x64.w64.mingw32/bin/

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bill\_Holmes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bill_holmes/32/47921_2.png) [@Bill\_Holmes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Bill_Holmes)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218/3 "2025-05-21T14:41:55Z")

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Thanks for the response. You are correct. I started using juliaup after starting with julia. So I probably have some old environment folders laying around. Unfortunatly this doesn’t fix things. If I correct the path variables to the below, the REPL still launces to v1.11.

```
"julia.executablePath": "/Users/wrholmes/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.9.4+0.aarch64.apple.darwin14/bin",

"julia.languageServerExecutablePath": "/Users/wrholmes/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.9.4+0.aarch64.apple.darwin14/bin"

```

 ![Screenshot 2025-05-21 at 10.18.45 AM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/3/2/32351031f624e5aa4b72d7d36524bbc7713b2fe2.png)

Calling versioninfo() confirms the REPL is still in v1.11.

 ![Screenshot 2025-05-21 at 10.37.10 AM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/f/a/fa3a7d0baefe9c6e5b6ccd98c900be79919f0b9c.png)

If I just open a regular REPL from the command line (julia +1.9.4), I get the version I want. But I can’t get VSCode to open a REPL in this version.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218/4 "2025-05-21T15:02:10Z")

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Actually setting the executable path to `julia +1.9` should work:

> [@How do set Julia version in VSCode when using juliaup](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-do-set-julia-version-in-vscode-when-using-juliaup/105619/8):
>
> So, I think setting julia.executablePath to something like julia +1.9 should work. What does not work (but really should) is that the VS Code extension picks up Juliaup directory overrides or the env var. That is a bit of a shame, and I hope to fix that sometime soon.

although it’s not working for me (but I get a “file not found” error, rather than VSCode starting some other Julia version)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bill\_Holmes](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/bill_holmes/32/47921_2.png) [@Bill\_Holmes](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Bill_Holmes)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/launching-repl-with-older-version-in-vscode/129218/5 "2025-05-21T15:36:37Z")

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In looking at the link you sent I just realized my error. The executablePath still wasn’t quite right. Below is the correct path.

```
"julia.executablePath": "/Users/wrholmes/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.9.4+0.aarch64.apple.darwin14/bin/julia",

"julia.languageServerExecutablePath": "/Users/wrholmes/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.9.4+0.aarch64.apple.darwin14/bin/julia"

```

I forgot to add the “julia” at the end of the path variables and only directed it to the bin folder. With this path the REPL launches with the correct version.

Thank you for the response! It was a big help.