PAWS/Python with Pip

PAWS works great with default Python out-of-the-box, but what if you need to import packages from PyPi?

At the start of your file, add code like:

import sys
!{sys.executable} -m pip install [PACKAGE]

Replace "[PACKAGE]" with the name of the package you want to import. For example, to use mwclient, a lightweight wrapper for the MediaWiki API:

import sys
!{sys.executable} -m pip install mwclient

The next time you run this cell of the notebook, the specified package will be automatically downloaded and installed. On subsequent runs, pip will detect if a package is already up-to-date and installed, and skip downloading.

Note packages are only temporarily installed on an ephemeral storage that is cleaned up every time your PAWS server is restarted. To manually restart your server, go to your Hub Control Panel, hit Stop My Server and then start a new instance. Your notebooks and files won't be lost.