Spyder-style variable inspection inside VS Code.
A live variable explorer in the sidebar and a real IPython console in the panel. Run a plain .py file, watch your variables populate, and click into any DataFrame, array, or nested dict — no notebook required.
- Variable explorer — a sidebar table of names, types, sizes, and value previews that refreshes as your code runs, with live filtering and color-coded type badges.
- IPython console — full
In [N]:/Out[N]:prompts next to the integrated terminal, with command history, streamed output, and real tracebacks. - Click to inspect — open DataFrames, Series, and 2-D NumPy arrays in a sortable grid; explore dicts and lists as a collapsible tree.
- Handles big data — paged grids keep large matrices responsive.
- Run your way — Run Selection/Line from the right-click menu, or Run File from the editor toolbar.
- VS Code
^1.90.0 - The Python extension (
ms-python.python) - A Python environment with the introspection packages:
pip install jupyter_client ipykernel pyzmq spyder-kernels==3.1.4- Open a Python file.
- Run
Variables: Start Consolefrom the Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P). - Run your code — variables appear in the sidebar as they're created. Click any row to inspect it.
| Action | Command |
|---|---|
| Start the kernel + panels | Variables: Start Console |
| Run selection or current line | Variables: Run Selection/Line in IPython Console |
| Run the whole file | Variables: Run File in IPython Console |
| Refresh the explorer | Variables: Refresh |
Clear console (Ctrl/Cmd+K) |
Variables: Clear Console |
| Reset kernel namespace | Variables: Clear Variables |
Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
MIT © Saketh Sreeram