OpenSCAD Kernel for Jupyter

I was missing a Jupyter Kernel for OpenSCAD. So I took up the challenge and here is the result.

Any regular text in a cell is added to the overall OpenSCAD code buffer. This allows you to build up an OpenSCAD model in multiple steps using Jupyter cells and document the design along the way.

Preconditions

Jupyter or Jupyterlab should have been installed
Please make sure that OpenSCAD has been installed on your system (e.g. with apt install openscad) and that it can be called on the command line:

openscad -v

diplays the version. E.g. 2019.12.20

Installation

pip install jupyter-openscad-kernel
python -m iopenscad.install

Installation from source

git clone https://github.com/pschatzmann/jupyter-openscad-kernel.git
cd openscad-kernel
pip install .
python -m iopenscad.install

Optional Steps

If you want to be able to display stl files you need to install a mime renderer for Jupyter. E.g

jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-viewer-3d

If you want to have syntax highlighting for OpenSCAD:

jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-openscad-syntax-highlighting

On linux, if you want to run openscad in a headless environment (e.g. Docker) you need to install xvfb

apt install -y xvfb

Now you can launch your kernel my calling

jupyter lab

jupyter workspace

Versions

1.0 Initial Version
1.0.1 Additional syntax checking; Publish to pypi
1.0.13 Error corrections for parser and installer, support for %use

Further Information

A quick Overview