A :term:`project directory` is associated with a virtualenv, but usually contains the source code under active development rather than the installed components needed to support the development. For example, the project directory may contain the source code checked out from a version control system, temporary artifacts created by testing, experimental files not committed to version control, etc.

A project directory is created and bound to a virtualenv when :ref:`command-mkproject` is run instead of :ref:`command-mkvirtualenv`. To bind an existing project directory to a virtualenv, use :ref:`command-setvirtualenvproject`.

A new project directory can be created empty, or populated using one or more :term:`template` plugins. Templates should be specified as arguments to :ref:`command-mkproject`. Multiple values can be provided to apply more than one template. For example, to check out a Mercurial repository from a project on BitBucket and create a new Django site, combine the :ref:`templates-bitbucket` and :ref:`templates-django` templates.

$ mkproject -t bitbucket -t django my_site

The project directory can include additional hook files for the postactivate and predeactivate hooks. Placing hook scripts in the project hook directory, .virtualenvwrapper, allows them to be checked into version control and shared more easily.

When the :ref:`scripts-postactivate` hook runs, it looks for .virtualenvwrapper/postactivate within the project directory and if it is found it sources the file.

When the :ref:`scripts-predeactivate` hook runs, it looks for .virtualenvwrapper/predeactivate within the project directory and if it is found it sources the file.

.. seealso::

   * :ref:`extensions-templates`
   * :ref:`variable-PROJECT_HOME`
   * :ref:`variable-VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_PROJECT_FILENAME`
   * :ref:`variable-VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_WORKON_CD`