About Us - pyodide

Our Vision

We believe in removing barriers between Python and the web. Our mission is to empower developers, educators, scientists, and students by enabling them to run Python—complete with its rich ecosystem—right inside the browser or Node.js environment, with no backend setup required.

What We Are

Pyodide is a state-of-the-art Python distribution that operates entirely within modern web browsers and Node.js runtimes. Powered by WebAssembly (via Emscripten), it delivers a full CPython interpreter bundled with powerful libraries such as NumPy, pandas, SciPy, Matplotlib, scikit-learn—and many more.

How It Works

WebAssembly-Powered: Pyodide compiles the CPython runtime to WebAssembly, allowing seamless execution directly on the client side.
Package Support: You get dozens of pre-packaged Python modules ready to use. Beyond that, any pure-Python wheel on PyPI can be installed via micropip, enabling vast compatibility.

Microsoft for Developers

Smooth JavaScript ↔ Python Integration: Our robust JavaScript–Python interoperability allows you to pass errors, use async/await, interact with web APIs, and much more—all with minimal friction.

Why It Matters

Zero Installation Hassle: No need to install Python locally—your users can code in Python instantly, right in the browser.
Ideal for Learning & Demos: Perfect for interactive education, workshops, quick prototypes, or embedding live code examples. As noted by Microsoft developers, this dramatically lowers the friction for students and new programmers.
Rich Ecosystem Available: Many scientific computing tools users expect are already supported, bringing powerful capabilities directly to web apps.
Open Source & Community-Driven: Born from Mozilla’s Iodide project and actively maintained by contributors, Pyodide thrives on community involvement, innovation, and transparent governance.

Our Story

Origins with Mozilla: Founded around 2018 at Mozilla as part of the Iodide notebook project, Pyodide aimed to bring literate scientific computing into the browser.
Rapid Evolution: What began as a demo evolved into a robust runtime. Today, it runs advanced Python packages within browser environments, complete with JavaScript interactions, package installations, and scientific stack support.

Who Uses Pyodide?

We’re thrilled to see a range of real-world applications:

Educational Tools — Interactive coding environments accessible in any browser.
Developer Workflows — Embedding Python REPLs, notebooks, or tooling directly in the frontend.
Lightweight VS Code Prototypes — Experimenting with features like embedded Python tooling using Pyodide.

How to Get Involved

Try It Now: Experiment directly in the browser—no installation required.
Run Locally or Self-Host: Grab the latest release from our pyodide.com or integrate the runtime into your own site.

Contribute: Whether you’re a package maintainer, runtime enthusiast, or developer community member—check out our docs and governance guides to get started.