Python in the browser: How does it work?

Want to run Python in the browser?

You can for free with Anvil!

What powers Anvil?

Our mission is to bring sanity to web app development. Anvil lets you build web apps with nothing but Python – and this means running Python in the browser as well as on the server.

This lets us replace the many technologies of the Web stack with something more coherent:

Two diagrams of the web stack, how it is now with a disjointed set of technologies, and how it is in Anvil with everything in Python and connected by function calls

There are several implementations of Python that run in the web browser, and Yasoob invited me to survey some of them for Python Tips.

I compare Skulpt, Brython, PyIodide, Transcrypt, PyPy.js and Batavia. I then talk about why we chose Skulpt to build Anvil – and why it’s not enough simply to replace Javascript with Python.

For the full story, read the article on the Python Tips blog:

Read the article

Want to know more?

Running Python in the browser is only part of what makes Anvil so powerful. To see the rest – including drag-and-drop user interfaces, built-in databases, and tight integration between client and server code – check out our introductory tutorial:

Introduction to Anvil