Mizuna

Mizuna is a Python package meant to automate uploading graphs and visualizations (e.g., matplotlib, Seaborn) to Overleaf. In reality, it's a small wrapper to invoke a git add/commit/push to a repository on files of your choice.

Why?

Data visualizations need constant iteration. I noticed I was spending ~10 seconds every time I needed to upload a new figure through the Overleaf web UI to verify it looked proper. Mizuna freed cycles by rendering the visualization and automatically uploading it for me.

The concept is a simplified version of the gigaleaf library without needing to use Gigantum for data analysis. This is a local alternative that works directly with Overleaf (or any git repository).

Installation

Installation is done through PyPI:

$ pip install mizuna

How to Use

Quick Start

Brief example workflow:

• Initialize Mizuna
• Create and save a figure with your favorite visualization library (e.g., Seaborn, matplotlib)
• Track the resulting file with Mizuna
• Sync with your remote repository

# Import Mizuna object
import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mizuna import Mizuna

# Repository URL
remote = 'https://git.overleaf.com/thisisarandomproject'
# Directory to clone the remote into
repo_dir = 'CloneHere'

# Create Mizuna object
m = Mizuna(remote, repo_dir)

# Generate and save a chart (e.g., Seaborn, matplotlib, etc.)
x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
y = [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
sns.scatterplot(x=x, y=y)
plt.savefig('mychart.png', format='png')

# Track a file
m.track('mychart.png')
# Sync with repository
m.sync()

The Mizuna Object

Initialize the Mizuna object with the repository URL, the name of the local directory to clone the remote into, and (optionally) whether the local directory is within a networked drive (e.g., a Z: drive or Google Drive File Stream).

If the drive is networked, pass True into the networked_drive parameter for Mizuna to work properly. See Limitations.

remote = 'https://git.overleaf.com/thisisarandomproject' # Repository URL
repo_dir = 'CloneHere' # Directory to clone the remote into

m = Mizuna(remote, repo_dir) # Mizuna object

remote = 'https://git.overleaf.com/thisisarandomproject' # Repository URL
repo_dir = 'CloneHere' # Directory to clone the remote into

m = Mizuna(remote, repo_dir, networked_drive=True) # Mizuna object (networked drive)

Tracking

Mizuna can track a single file:

m.track('mychart.png') # Track one file

A single file renamed on the remote:

m.track('mychart.png', 'figure1.png') # Track one file and rename on remote

A list of files:

m.track(['mychart1.png', 'mychart2.png', 'mychart3.png']) # Track multiple files

A list of tuples (files renamed on the remote):

f1 = ('mychart1.png', 'figure1.png')
f2 = ('mychart2.png', 'figure2.png')
f3 = ('mychart3.png', 'figure3.png')

m.track([f1, f2, f3]) # Track files as tuples

Or a dictionary containing multiple files with their respective renames on the remote:

sync_files = { 'mychart1.png': 'figure1.png',
               'mychart2.png': 'figure2.png' }
m.track(sync_files) # Track multiple files with their renames on remote

Untracking

If you need to untrack a file or all files:

m.untrack('mychart.png') # Untrack a single file
m.untrack_all() # Untrack all files

Checking Tracked Files

If you need to see all the files currently tracked by Mizuna:

m.track_list # List all files tracked

Syncing

And finally, push to Overleaf (or your git repository) when ready:

m.sync() # Pulls changes, replaces changes with the tracked figures, and pushes

Limitations

• Files from networked drives (e.g., Z drive, Google Drive File Stream) may throw an incorrect SameFileError exception.
  • See https://bugs.python.org/issue33935.
  • To circumvent this issue, pass True into the networked_drive parameter in the Mizuna constructor.
    • This prevents samefile checks from shutil.copy().
• Overleaf git URLs only work with Premium accounts.
  • Referring a single user to Overleaf unlocks git URLs.
• Mizuna is currently forced to output verbose. Future updates will curb output.

License

Usage is provided under the MIT License. See LICENSE for full details.