How to Install PyCharm on Debian 13, 12 and 11

Installing PyCharm on Debian now centers on the unified pycharm package name. JetBrains no longer splits current Linux installs into separate Community and Professional packages for the main product; the same PyCharm install keeps core Python IDE features free and offers Pro features through the in-app trial or subscription path.

For most Debian desktop users, the official Snap package is the cleanest command-line install because JetBrains publishes it directly and Snap handles updates automatically. If you specifically want APT commands, a community-maintained JetBrains APT repository is available, but it is not an official JetBrains Debian repository and uses a wrapper around JetBrains’ Linux tarball.

Choose Your PyCharm Installation Method

The main choice is official packaging versus APT integration. Use the table to pick the method that matches your update preference and trust model:

Method	Source	Package	Updates	Best For
Snap	JetBrains on Snapcraft	pycharm	Automatic through Snap	Most users who want the official JetBrains CLI install
Community APT repository	JonasGroeger/jetbrains-ppa	pycharm	APT wrapper refreshes	Users who accept an unofficial package that installs PyCharm into /opt/pycharm

If you searched for a PyCharm .deb download or tried apt install pycharm from Debian’s default repositories, this distinction matters. JetBrains documents Snap, Toolbox, and tar archive installs for Linux, while the APT method here uses a community wrapper around JetBrains releases.

These steps apply to Debian 13, 12, and 11. The commands are the same across those releases; the main difference is whether you choose JetBrains’ official Snap package or the community APT wrapper.

Update Debian Before Installing PyCharm

Refresh your package metadata and apply pending updates before adding Snapd or an external APT source:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

If your account cannot use sudo, configure administrator access first with the Debian sudoers guide, then return to these commands.

Install PyCharm via Official Snap

The Snap method installs JetBrains’ official unified PyCharm package. It also avoids the old pycharm-community and pycharm-professional package split that many older Linux tutorials still show.

Install Snapd on Debian

Debian does not install Snapd by default. Install the daemon from Debian’s package sources first:

sudo apt install snapd

Log out and back in, or reboot, so your desktop session picks up Snap’s application paths before launching PyCharm from the menu or terminal.

Install the Unified PyCharm Snap

Install the current stable PyCharm snap with classic confinement:

sudo snap install pycharm --classic

The --classic flag is required because PyCharm needs broad access to project folders, Python interpreters, SDKs, and development tools like a traditional desktop IDE.

Verify the Snap Installation

Confirm that Snap installed the unified PyCharm package:

snap list pycharm

Relevant output includes the pycharm package name, the latest/stable tracking channel, JetBrains as the verified publisher, and the classic confinement note:

Name     Version  Rev  Tracking       Publisher    Notes
pycharm  2026.x   xxx  latest/stable  jetbrains**  classic

Install PyCharm via Community APT Repository

Use this method only when you want an APT-visible PyCharm package. The repository is community-maintained, not published by JetBrains, and its current pycharm package is a thin wrapper: during installation, it downloads JetBrains’ Linux tarball, extracts it to /opt/pycharm, and installs a /usr/bin/pycharm launcher plus a desktop entry.

Do not enable both a legacy jetbrains-ppa.list file and the DEB822 jetbrains-ppa.sources file used here. Duplicate entries with different signing-key paths can break apt update with Signed-By conflicts.

Install Repository Prerequisites

Install the packages needed to fetch the signing key and add the external repository:

sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg

These packages provide HTTPS certificate validation, file downloading, and GPG key handling for the repository setup. The PyCharm package itself declares any extra download helper it needs during installation.

Import the Community Repository Key

Download the repository’s ASCII-armored signing key and convert it into a binary keyring for APT:

curl -fsSL https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/jetbrains-ppa/0xA6E8698A.pub.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /usr/share/keyrings/jetbrains-ppa-archive-keyring.gpg

Add the Community APT Source

Create the repository file in DEB822 format. The repository uses the codename-neutral any suite and publishes the PyCharm packages used by this method through its amd64 metadata:

printf '%s\n' \
'Types: deb' \
'URIs: http://jetbrains-ppa.s3-website.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com' \
'Suites: any' \
'Components: main' \
'Architectures: amd64' \
'Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/jetbrains-ppa-archive-keyring.gpg' \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jetbrains-ppa.sources > /dev/null

This repository URL uses HTTP because AWS S3 static website hosting does not provide HTTPS for that endpoint. APT still verifies package metadata and packages through the imported signing key.

Refresh APT and Verify PyCharm

Update package metadata so APT reads the new source:

sudo apt update

Check the unified PyCharm package candidate before installing:

apt-cache policy pycharm

Relevant output should show the pycharm package coming from the community repository:

pycharm:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2026.x
  Version table:
     2026.x 500
        500 http://jetbrains-ppa.s3-website.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com any/main amd64 Packages

Install PyCharm from APT

Install the unified PyCharm package:

sudo apt install pycharm

After installation, confirm that the wrapper command and extracted IDE directory exist:

command -v pycharm
ls -ld /opt/pycharm /opt/pycharm/bin/pycharm

Relevant output should show the command in /usr/bin and the extracted PyCharm files under /opt/pycharm:

/usr/bin/pycharm
drwxr-xr-x ... /opt/pycharm
-rwxr-xr-x ... /opt/pycharm/bin/pycharm

The APT package installs a /usr/bin/pycharm wrapper, so the APT method can launch PyCharm with the pycharm command.

Launch PyCharm

Launch PyCharm from the Terminal

The terminal launch command depends on the installation method. For the Snap package, use Snap’s method-specific launcher:

snap run pycharm

After logging out and back in, or rebooting, the Snap launcher is usually also available through /snap/bin as pycharm. For the community APT package, use the wrapper installed in /usr/bin:

pycharm

Launch PyCharm from the Applications Menu

You can also open PyCharm from your desktop environment’s application launcher:

• Open the application launcher or menu on your Debian desktop
• Search for PyCharm or check the programming/development category
• Select PyCharm to start the first-run setup

Update PyCharm

The update command depends on the installation method you chose.

Update the Snap Package

Snap refreshes packages automatically. To check manually, refresh the PyCharm snap:

sudo snap refresh pycharm

Update the Community APT Package

If you installed PyCharm from the community APT repository, update only the PyCharm wrapper package after refreshing metadata. When the repository publishes a newer package, the install scripts refresh the extracted IDE under /opt/pycharm:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade pycharm

Remove PyCharm

Use the removal path that matches your installation method. Package removal does not automatically delete your personal settings, plugins, caches, or projects.

Remove the Snap Installation

Remove the PyCharm snap package:

sudo snap remove pycharm

Verify that the snap is no longer installed:

snap list pycharm 2>/dev/null || echo "pycharm not installed"

Snap can keep an automatic snapshot after removal. Review saved snapshots before deleting rollback data:

sudo snap saved

If the output lists a PyCharm snapshot that you no longer want, forget that snapshot by ID:

sudo snap forget SNAPSHOT_ID

Remove the Community APT Installation

Remove the unified PyCharm package installed from the community repository. The package removal script also removes /opt/pycharm:

sudo apt remove pycharm

Verify that the command wrapper and extracted IDE directory are gone:

command -v pycharm || echo "pycharm command removed"
ls -ld /opt/pycharm 2>/dev/null || echo "/opt/pycharm removed"

If you previously installed an older package name from the same repository, check whether any PyCharm APT packages are still installed before cleaning up the source:

dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package}\t${db:Status-Abbrev}\t${Version}\n' 'pycharm*' 2>/dev/null | grep '^pycharm.*\tii' || echo "No installed PyCharm APT packages found."

Remove any installed PyCharm package that still appears, then review orphaned dependencies before approving automatic cleanup:

sudo apt autoremove --dry-run
sudo apt autoremove

If you do not plan to install PyCharm or another JetBrains IDE from this community repository again, remove the repository file and keyring:

sudo rm -f /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jetbrains-ppa.sources
sudo rm -f /usr/share/keyrings/jetbrains-ppa-archive-keyring.gpg
sudo apt update

Remove User Configuration Files

The next commands delete per-user PyCharm settings, plugins, caches, and local IDE state. Back up anything you want to keep before running them.

For the APT-installed desktop application, first review matching JetBrains directories:

find "$HOME/.config/JetBrains" "$HOME/.cache/JetBrains" "$HOME/.local/share/JetBrains" -maxdepth 1 -type d -name 'PyCharm*' -print 2>/dev/null

Delete the matching PyCharm directories only when you are ready to reset the user profile:

rm -rf "$HOME"/.config/JetBrains/PyCharm*
rm -rf "$HOME"/.cache/JetBrains/PyCharm*
rm -rf "$HOME"/.local/share/JetBrains/PyCharm*

For the Snap package, check whether a per-user Snap directory exists before deleting it:

ls -ld "$HOME/snap/pycharm" 2>/dev/null || echo "No per-user PyCharm snap data found."
rm -rf "$HOME/snap/pycharm"

Conclusion

PyCharm is ready on Debian through the official Snap package or the community APT wrapper, depending on whether you prefer JetBrains-published packaging or an APT-visible install under /opt/pycharm. For a stronger Python development setup, add Git on Debian for version control, Docker on Debian for containerized projects, or GitHub Desktop on Debian if you want a graphical Git workflow alongside PyCharm.