Show HN: Pobshell – A Bash‑like shell for live Python objects

Show HN: Pobshell – A Bash‑like shell for live Python objects(github.com)

4 points by cogs 324 days ago | 1 comment

Hi HN,

I've just launched Pobshell. Think cd, ls, cat, and find — but for Python objects instead of files.

Stroll around your code, runtime state, and data structures. Inspect everything: modules, classes, live objects. Plus recursive search and CLI integration.

What it's for:

- Exploratory debugging: Inspect live object state on the fly

- Understanding APIs: Examine code, docstrings, class trees

- Shell integration: Pipe object state or code snippets to LLMs or OS tools

- Code and data search: Recursive search for object state or source without file paths

- REPL & paused script: Explore runtime environments dynamically

- Teaching & demos: Make Python internals visible and walkable

Pobshell is pick‑up‑and‑play: familiar commands plus optional new tricks.

2 minute video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5QoSrc_E_A

Install: pip install pobshell

Github: https://github.com/pdalloz/pobshell

Pobshell is open source, and in alpha release. Tested on MacOs, Linux and Windows (Python 3.12)

cogs 324 days ago |

Clickable links for convenience:

* 2 min demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5QoSrc_E_A

* PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/pobshell/

* GitHub: https://github.com/pdalloz/pobshell

Note: This is an alpha release. Built and tested with Python 3.12 on MacOS, Ubuntu, Windows (native + WSL).

I’m especially curious to hear how devs use this: — Exploring packages? — Debugging data state? — Teaching Python? — Something unexpected?

Any feedback is appreciated!