Open Source

plotlive

Python plotting library that renders matplotlib-compatible graphs as live interactive pygame windows. Pan, zoom, hover for tooltips, and step through animations frame by frame. Supports 11 plot types, GIF/MP4 export, and Jupyter inline display.

Role Solo developer

Stack

Pythonpygame-ceNumPyPillow

Source

Pan, zoom, hover. Zero extra config.

Scroll to zoom centered on cursor.
Drag to pan any axis.
Hover shows the nearest point value.
Double-click resets the view.

Step through every frame.

Animations start paused on frame 0.
Space bar plays or pauses.
Arrow keys step one frame at a time.
S key saves the current frame as PNG.

Grid layouts. Each axis independent.

fig, axs = plt.subplots(2, 2) works as-is.
Zoom one panel without affecting others.
Double-click any panel to expand it.
Mix plot types freely in one figure.

Inline output. Same import.

plt.show() detects the Jupyter kernel automatically.
Static plots render as PNG inline.
Animations export as GIF inline.
No config, no different import path.

GIF and MP4. No window needed.

plt.save_animation('out.gif') runs fully headless.
fps derived from interval automatically.
Progress printed per frame so long exports are visible.
pip install plotlive[gif] adds Pillow for GIF support.