PyCharm 2024.2.3: Run button greyed out and Run configuration missing - fix by reopening the project

PyCharm 2024.2.3: Run button greyed out and Run configuration missing. Fix: close and reopen the project. UI bug notes and 'test' filename tips. Project vs file

PyCharm run button is greyed out and the Run configuration disappears: what to do

You open a Python project in PyCharm 2024.2.3 Pro, but the run triangle stays greyed out. In Run → Edit Configurations… you can still select Debug, Coverage, and Profile, yet the Run option itself is missing. Interpreter settings look fine. The code and environment haven’t changed. Still, the run action refuses to appear.

What’s actually happening

The symptoms point to a UI state where the IDE forgets to expose Run, even though other actions remain available. The same project, the same Python interpreter, and the same code start working again as soon as the project is reopened. That strongly suggests the issue lives in the current IDE session rather than in project configuration or code.

Two additional observations appeared alongside the main report. One note is that opening a single .py file instead of the project folder can lead to similar behavior; opening the entire project is advised. Another is that the name “test” is handled differently, which can influence how PyCharm treats a file. And there’s also the suggestion that it “looks like a bug in the UI,” inviting attempts to reproduce.

Why it happens

There’s no definitive root cause described beyond the session state. The crucial detail is that nothing in the project, code, or interpreter changed between the broken and working states, and the issue disappeared immediately after reopening the project window. That aligns with a transient UI inconsistency inside the IDE. As one observer put it,

Looks like a bug in the UI. Can you reproduce it?

Fix: the simple reset that worked

Close the window that contains the PyCharm project, then reopen the same project. After this, the Run option returns to the Run/Debug configuration dialog, and the run button becomes available again. In the report, that was the only step required; everything else remained the same.

There is also a practical angle worth keeping in mind: if you opened just a .py file, try opening the project folder itself instead. That has been associated with the same symptom. And remember that files named “test” may be treated specially.

Why this matters

Losing Run while Debug, Coverage, and Profile remain can be confusing and time-consuming, because it looks like a configuration error or interpreter mismatch. In this case, it isn’t. Knowing that a quick project reopen can restore Run saves you from unnecessary deep dives into settings that aren’t related to the problem.

Takeaways

If PyCharm 2024.2.3 Pro shows a greyed-out run icon and the Run configuration is missing while everything else looks correct, first close the project window and reopen the same project. If the issue coincides with opening a single Python file rather than a project folder, switch to the full project view. Be aware that naming a file “test” can change how it’s handled. If the behavior persists, try to capture a reproducible scenario—it has been suggested this may be a UI bug, and having steps to reproduce will help track it down.