Run Interactive Apps

Positron provides a simplified method for running interactive apps via the Play button. Instead of running an app from a Terminal, you can run supported apps by clicking the Play button in Editor Actions. Additionally, you can start a supported app in debug mode through the Play button context menu.

Positron Run App button in Editor Actions

Supported app frameworks

Currently, Positron supports the following Python app frameworks:

  • Dash
  • FastAPI
  • Flask
  • Gradio
  • Shiny
  • Streamlit

Running an interactive app

  1. Open the .py file of a supported app framework.

  2. In Editor Actions, click Play.

    Positron Run App Play button

Then, Positron runs the app in a dedicated Terminal tab and opens the app URL in the Viewer pane.

A Streamlit app in the Positron Viewer

Debugging an interactive app

  1. Open the .py file of a supported app framework.

  2. Set breakpoints in the .py file by clicking on the editor margin.

    Editor margin area for adding breakpoints

  3. Click the Play button drop-down context menu and select Debug [{SUPPORTED_APP_TYPE}] App in Terminal.

    • For this example, we select Debug Steamlit App in Terminal.

    Play button drop-down context menu

Then, Positron runs the app in a dedicated Terminal tab, opens the app URL in the Viewer pane, and starts the app in debug mode.

A Streamlit app running in debug mode; paused at a breakpoint