Pluto

A notebook in a single binary: TypeScript/JavaScript, Postgres, SQLite, DuckDB and Polars cells, a Vue UI with a CodeMirror editor (TypeScript completions), and an MCP endpoint for agents.

Install

Pick the file for your machine from the latest release:

Platform	File
macOS, Apple Silicon (M1+)	pluto-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
macOS, Intel	pluto-darwin-x64.tar.gz
Linux x64	pluto-linux-x64.tar.gz
Linux ARM64	pluto-linux-arm64.tar.gz
Windows x64	pluto-win32-x64.zip

macOS / Linux — download, unpack and put it on your PATH (swap in your platform's file name):

curl -L https://github.com/Junkiez/pluto/releases/latest/download/pluto-darwin-arm64.tar.gz | tar -xz
sudo mv pluto /usr/local/bin/

macOS: "cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified" — the binary isn't signed by Apple, and files downloaded through a browser get quarantined. curl (above) avoids it; otherwise clear the flag once: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/pluto

Windows — unzip pluto-win32-x64.zip and run pluto.exe from a terminal. SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognized app: More info → Run anyway.

Docker — multi-arch image (amd64/arm64) on GitHub Packages:

docker run -p 9999:9999 -v pluto-data:/data -e PLUTO_PASS=secret ghcr.io/junkiez/pluto

Notebooks and their databases live in the /data volume (a fresh volume starts with the sample notebooks). Always set PLUTO_PASS when the port is reachable by others — cells run arbitrary code.

On first use of DuckDB or Polars, Pluto unpacks their engines (~210 MB) into ~/.cache/pluto.

Run

pluto --file notebook.json

Open http://localhost:9999. Sample notebooks are in example/.

Flag
--file <path>	notebook to open (default notebook.json); notebooks next to it show up in the picker
--pass <password>	require a password (browser prompt, ?password= link, or Authorization: Bearer for MCP). PLUTO_PASS env works too
--unsafe	give cells the real filesystem; without it, fs, DuckDB and SQLite are confined to <notebook>.files/
--allow-import=host,…	hosts JS cells may import from (default esm.sh, cdn.jsdelivr.net, unpkg.com, jsr.io); bare --allow-import allows any
PORT env	port (default 9999)

Per notebook, data lives next to the file: <name>.pgdata (Postgres), <name>.sqlite, <name>.duckdb, <name>.files/.

Cells

• TypeScript / JavaScript — one shared kernel (edge-runtime). Top-level await, URL/esm.sh imports, HTML output. Globals: sql (Postgres), duck (DuckDB), pl (Polars), fs.
• Postgres (PGlite), SQLite (bun:sqlite), DuckDB — results render as tables.
• Polars — SQL over the DataFrames defined in JS cells, by variable name.
• Shell — an isolated POSIX-style shell with node/npm (Lifo): its own virtual disk, never the host's (even with --unsafe). The notebook's files are mounted at /home/user.

MCP

http://localhost:9999/mcp (Streamable HTTP). Tools: run_code, get_notebook, add_cell, update_cell, format_cell, format_code, delete_cell, list_notebooks, open_notebook.

claude mcp add --transport http pluto http://localhost:9999/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <password>"

Build

npm ci
npm run build   # -> example/pluto

Builds for the platform you're on (DuckDB and Polars are native). CI builds darwin-arm64, darwin-x64, linux-x64 and linux-arm64 and publishes a release on every push to main (.github/workflows/release.yml).

src/server.ts          server, kernels, MCP
src/web/               UI: index.html (Vue), editor.ts (CodeMirror + Shiki), ts-worker.ts (TypeScript service)
src/native/            loaders for the embedded DuckDB / Polars native libraries
scripts/               build steps: gen-types (TS libs for the editor), gen-native (per-platform native paths)
example/               sample notebooks (+ the built binary)