Peptide: Interactive, REPL-driven programming for Python

This extension is still in early development.

Peptide provides key-bindings to interactively develop Python programs, like CIDER/SLIME in the Lisp world.

Peptide is syntax-aware. It uses tree-sitter to parse the source file and select the appropriate code to execute in the REPL. See the Features section for what can be selected.

Instead of printing the evaluation result to the terminal, Peptide displays the result inline, in the text editor. This provides instantaneous feedback and greater interactivity to the development experience.

Quick Start

Peptide uses Jupyter as a REPL backend.

NOTE: if you don't have Jupyter, follow the instructions to install it.

In your Python project's root folder, start a Jupyter server:

$ jupyter server

[I 2022-01-15 15:55:44.742 ServerApp] Jupyter Server 1.13.1 is running at:
[I 2022-01-15 15:55:44.742 ServerApp] http://localhost:8888/?token=baf72577cfb778a52d0317347c7863359a3facc17464f710

Copy the URL in the output. This contains the token that Peptide uses to communicate with the Jupyter Server.
In VSCode, go to "View" -> "Command Palette" (or Cmd + Shift + P on Mac). Run Peptide: Connect to a Running Jupyter Server, and paste the URL.
Use any of the code evaluation commands described in the feature section.
At any time, press Shift + Esc, or choose Peptide: Clear Inline Evaluation Result in the Command Palette to clear the inline evaluation results.

Features

Evaluate current top-level statement

key-binding: Alt/Option + Enter

This command selects the top-level statement (e.g. function definition, assign statement, function call, etc.) under cursor, and evaluates it.

Evaluate preceding form

key-binding: Ctrl + Enter

A form is one of:

parenthesized_expression
function call
identifier (variable),
or, a primitive value

This command selects a form that's immediately before the cursor. This is useful when inspecting parameters passed into a function call.

Evaluate the entire script

key-binding: Ctrl + Alt+ Enter

This command sends the entire source file to the REPL for evaluation. This is useful when loading up the functions in the file before calling the evaluation commands.

Release Notes