SG-42625 Fix tank_vendor imports for pip installations and developer scripts (#1091)

Author: eduardoChaucaGallegos

developer/bake_config.py

@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@
 # add sgtk API
 this_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 python_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(this_folder, "..", "python"))
-sys.path.append(python_folder)
+# Insert at the beginning to ensure local tk-core takes precedence over
+# any installed version in site-packages
+sys.path.insert(0, python_folder)
 
 # sgtk imports
 from tank import LogManager

developer/build_plugin.py

@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@
 # add sgtk API
 this_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 python_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(this_folder, "..", "python"))
-sys.path.append(python_folder)
+# Insert at the beginning to ensure local tk-core takes precedence over
+# any installed version in site-packages
+sys.path.insert(0, python_folder)
 
 # sgtk imports
 from tank import LogManager

developer/populate_bundle_cache.py

@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@
 # add sgtk API
 this_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 python_folder = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(this_folder, "..", "python"))
-sys.path.append(python_folder)
+# Insert at the beginning to ensure local tk-core takes precedence over
+# any installed version in site-packages
+sys.path.insert(0, python_folder)
 
 # sgtk imports
 from sgtk import LogManager

setup.py

@@ -10,9 +10,12 @@
 
 # Basic setup.py so tk-core could be installed as
 # a standard Python package
+import os
 import re
-from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 import subprocess
+import sys
+
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 
 def get_version():
@@ -50,6 +53,35 @@ def get_version():
     return "dev"
 
 
+def get_install_requires():
+    """
+    Read dependencies from the version-specific requirements.txt.
+
+    This ensures pip installations use the same dependency versions
+    as those vendored in pkgs.zip for Toolkit distributions.
+
+    :returns: A list of requirement strings, e.g. ["PyYAML==6.0.2", ...].
+    """
+    req_file = os.path.join(
+        os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),
+        "requirements",
+        f"{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}",
+        "requirements.txt",
+    )
+    if not os.path.exists(req_file):
+        raise Exception(
+            f"Python {sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}"
+            " is not supported"
+        )
+
+    with open(req_file) as f:
+        return [
+            line.strip()
+            for line in f
+            if line.strip() and not line.strip().startswith("#")
+        ]
+
+
 # Retrieve long description and licence from external files
 try:
     f = open("README.md")
@@ -72,6 +104,10 @@ def get_version():
     author="Autodesk, Inc",
     url="https://github.com/shotgunsoftware/tk-core",
     license=license,
+    # Dependencies for pip installations (when pkgs.zip is not available).
+    # Versions are read from requirements/<python_version>/requirements.txt
+    # to stay in sync with the vendored packages in pkgs.zip.
+    install_requires=get_install_requires(),
     # Recursively discover all packages in python folder, excluding any tests
     packages=find_packages(
         "python", exclude=("*.tests", "*.tests.*", "tests.*", "tests")

tests/integration_tests/developer_scripts.py

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Copyright 2026 Autodesk, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+#
+# Use of this software is subject to the terms of the Autodesk license agreement
+# provided at the time of installation or download, or which otherwise accompanies
+# this software in either electronic or hard copy form.
+#
+
+"""
+Validate that developer scripts work correctly even when sgtk is also
+installed via pip in the same Python environment.
+
+This ensures that developer scripts always use the local tk-core
+(via sys.path.insert) and not the pip-installed version.
+"""
+
+import os
+import subprocess  # nosec B404
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+
+from sgtk_integration_test import SgtkIntegrationTest
+
+
+class DeveloperScriptsTests(SgtkIntegrationTest):
+    """Validate developer scripts work with pip sgtk installed.
+
+    Creates a temporary venv with sgtk pip-installed, then runs each
+    developer script from that venv to confirm they still prioritize
+    the local tk-core (via sys.path.insert) over site-packages.
+    """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _get_venv_python(cls, venv_dir):
+        """Return the path to the Python executable inside the venv."""
+        if sys.platform == "win32":
+            return os.path.join(venv_dir, "Scripts", "python.exe")
+        return os.path.join(venv_dir, "bin", "python")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def setUpClass(cls):
+        """Create a temp venv and install sgtk via pip."""
+        super().setUpClass()
+        cls._venv_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="test_dev_scripts_")
+        subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+            [sys.executable, "-m", "venv", cls._venv_dir]
+        )
+        cls._venv_python = cls._get_venv_python(cls._venv_dir)
+        subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+            [cls._venv_python, "-m", "pip", "install", cls.tk_core_repo_root]
+        )
+
+    def test_bake_config(self):
+        """Validate bake_config.py --help works."""
+        script = os.path.join(self.tk_core_repo_root, "developer", "bake_config.py")
+        subprocess.check_call([self._venv_python, script, "--help"])  # nosec B603
+
+    def test_build_plugin(self):
+        """Validate build_plugin.py --help works."""
+        script = os.path.join(self.tk_core_repo_root, "developer", "build_plugin.py")
+        subprocess.check_call([self._venv_python, script, "--help"])  # nosec B603
+
+    def test_populate_bundle_cache(self):
+        """Validate populate_bundle_cache.py --help works."""
+        script = os.path.join(
+            self.tk_core_repo_root, "developer", "populate_bundle_cache.py"
+        )
+        subprocess.check_call([self._venv_python, script, "--help"])  # nosec B603
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main(failfast=True, verbosity=2)

tests/integration_tests/pip_install.py

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Copyright 2025 Autodesk, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+#
+# Use of this software is subject to the terms of the Autodesk license agreement
+# provided at the time of installation or download, or which otherwise accompanies
+# this software in either electronic or hard copy form.
+#
+
+"""
+Validate that sgtk can be installed via pip in a clean virtual environment
+and that all tank_vendor imports resolve correctly.
+
+This script creates a temporary venv, runs pip install, and verifies
+that critical imports work without the pkgs.zip vendored dependencies.
+"""
+
+import os
+import subprocess  # nosec B404
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+
+from sgtk_integration_test import SgtkIntegrationTest
+
+
+class PipInstallTests(SgtkIntegrationTest):
+    """Validate pip install and tank_vendor imports in a clean venv."""
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _get_venv_python(cls, venv_dir):
+        """Return the path to the Python executable inside the venv."""
+        if sys.platform == "win32":
+            return os.path.join(venv_dir, "Scripts", "python.exe")
+        return os.path.join(venv_dir, "bin", "python")
+
+    def test_pip_install_and_import(self):
+        """Validate pip install followed by import sgtk in a clean venv."""
+        tk_core_root = self.tk_core_repo_root
+
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="test_pip_") as venv_dir:
+            subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+                [sys.executable, "-m", "venv", venv_dir]
+            )
+            python = self._get_venv_python(venv_dir)
+
+            subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+                [python, "-m", "pip", "install", tk_core_root]
+            )
+            subprocess.check_call([python, "-c", "import sgtk"])  # nosec B603
+            subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+                [python, "-c", "from tank_vendor.shotgun_api3 import Shotgun"]
+            )
+            subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+                [python, "-c", "from tank_vendor import yaml"]
+            )
+            subprocess.check_call(  # nosec B603
+                [
+                    python,
+                    "-c",
+                    "from tank_vendor.shotgun_api3.lib import httplib2",
+                ]
+            )
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main(failfast=True, verbosity=2)