For years, building interactive widgets in Python notebooks meant wrestling with toolchains, platform quirks, and a mountain of JavaScript machinery. Most developers took one look and backed away slowly. Trevor Manz decided that barrier did not need to exist. His idea was simple: give Python users just enough JavaScript to unlock the web’s interactivity, without dragging along the rest of the web ecosystem. That idea became anywidget, and it is quickly becoming the quiet connective tissue of modern interactive computing. Today we dig into how it works, why it has taken off, and how it might change the way we explore data.

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Links from the show

Trevor on GitHub: github.com

anywidget GitHub: github.com

Trevor's SciPy 2024 Talk: www.youtube.com

Marimo GitHub: github.com

Myst (Markdown docs): mystmd.org

Altair: altair-viz.github.io

DuckDB: duckdb.org

Mosaic: uwdata.github.io

ipywidgets: ipywidgets.readthedocs.io

Tension between Web and Data Sci Graphic: blobs.talkpython.fm

Quak: github.com

Walk through building a widget: anywidget.dev

Widget Gallery: anywidget.dev

Video: How do I anywidget?: www.youtube.com

PyCharm + PSF Fundraiser: pycharm-psf-2025 code STRONGER PYTHON

Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com

Episode #530 deep-dive: talkpython.fm/530

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