Automatically Run Python Profile Script at Startup

[dani-f]

Hi, is there a way to run a custom Python profile script at startup when opening the Python interpreter in Positron? Like an equivalent of R's ".Rprofile" script?
I would appreciate your help!
Dani

[testlabauto]

Hi @dani-f,

Thanks for using Positron.

Have you tried this:

[testlabauto]

Hi Daniel, yeah, I see what you mean.

As an alternative, you might want to look at:
~/.ipython/profile_default/startup/README

It instructs you to add a file to ~/.ipython/profile_default/startup/ which does get run at startup with Positron. However, there are some caveats:

• it doesn't forward to stdout so print("Hello") will seem to do nothing
• any variables you add are flagged as hidden so you won't see them in the Variables Pane

If these caveats aren't too much for you, this approach may work out.

[dani-f]

Hi Christopher, thanks for this second idea. I have tried this now, but unfortunately, it also seems to not work. I put my .py file in that folder and the functions I define in that script are not available in the Positron workspace. Not even hidden, as I cannot call the defined objects.

[dani-f]

Hi again!
I see now that, although I cannot access objects I define in this script (which is one of the things I am looking for), any options I set are applied to my python session in Positron. So, if this startup script sets, for example, pd.set_option('display.float_format', '{:.2f}'.format) than this is applied for the session.

But do you know how I could access the objects that I define within the startup script?

[austin3dickey]

Hey Daniel,

I can't quite reproduce what you're saying but I have some ideas.

First off, I have a startup script that looks like the following:

austin@austindickey-C7XT ~ % cat ~/.ipython/profile_default/startup/test.py

import pandas as pd
pd.options.display.max_columns = 43
print("asd")
x = 5

When I start up Positron, I don't see anything in the Variables pane, but I can see the changes I made in the Console:

>>> print(x)
5
>>> import pandas as pd
>>> pd.get_option("display.max_columns")
43

There is actually an IPython config option that allows you to see the values of variables loaded at startup. I was able to activate this behavior by adding a config file:

austin@austindickey-C7XT ~ % cat ~/.ipython/profile_default/ipython_config.py 

c = get_config()
c.InteractiveShellApp.hide_initial_ns = False

Once I add that file and restart Positron/the interpreter, I am able to see the value of x in the Variables pane, and continue to be able to use it in the Console.

The drawback is that I also now see some other hidden variables like _ and __name__, but I think that's an IPython quirk.

Are you able to reproduce what I've described here?

[dani-f]

Hi both, thanks for your help, I appreciate you both taking the time to provide this info. It is actually the case, that the script runs at startup and the variables are hidden. I was confused at first as I did not see anything in the variables pane. And @austin3dickey, thanks, I can indeed make them appear in the variables pane through that IPython config file. A few other values are loaded as well, but I can ignore these.

It's a great workaround that achieves what I'm looking for.

For the positron team, a built-in function to define a custom Python profile script running at startup would be a great addition to the platform's functionality. In general, I believe that Positron is on its way to be the best data science IDE. Also, I hope they add a few more usability hacks (like this example) that could further improve the user experience. I'm looking forward to seeing how the platform continues to evolve!

[austin3dickey]

Nice, glad that helped!

I'm interested in more details about your idea for "a built-in function to define a custom Python profile script running at startup." Could you say a little more? Are you envisioning e.g. a Command Palette command? I can help turn that feature request into a new GitHub Issue if you'd like.

[dani-f]

Hi Austin,

The feature I'm suggesting is the ability for users to define a custom profile script that runs automatically at the start of each programming session. Implementing this built-in method for custom profile scripts would be a great addition and it would allow users to customize their Positron experience.
The behavior of this feature should be similar to the .Rprofile functionality in the R programming environment, as this is a well-established and widely-used approach for customizing the programming environment.

Functionality and Benefits:

• For R, it is easy to achieve this with the .Rprofile file. But for Python, it is a tedious approach to achieve a similar behavior (as we have seen along this thread).
• So, users should be able to set environment variables, define functions, set options, load libraries and perform any other initialization tasks in the startup script. Just as they would be able to do if they were to run any script at the beginning of every session.
• The execution of the startup script should be visible to the user, with the script's output printed to the console. This will help users understand what is being loaded and configured at the start of their session.

User Experience:

• Positron could have a dedicated setting or configuration option where users can select their custom startup script.
• The startup script functionality could be tied to the user profile within Positron, allowing for personalized initialization across multiple profiles.

What do you think about it? Would it make sense to request it?

Best regards,

Daniel

[austin3dickey]

Awesome, thanks Dani. I created #6473 to track the outstanding requests here.