nb2wb 0.1.0

Write in Jupyter Notebooks. Publish anywhere.

nb2wb

Write in Jupyter Notebooks. Publish anywhere.

nb2wb (short for notebook to web) converts Jupyter Notebooks into self-contained HTML files you can paste directly into publishing platforms like Substack and X Articles — with LaTeX, code, and outputs all rendered faithfully.

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Why

Most web publishing platforms strip MathJax and code-block formatting. nb2wb sidesteps this by turning complex content into images, and converting simple inline math into Unicode text that pastes cleanly as prose.

Notebook element	nb2wb output
Inline LaTeX $...$	Unicode text (α, β, ∇, ℝ, …)
Display math $$...$$, \[...\], \begin{equation}	PNG image
Code cells	Syntax-highlighted PNG image
Cell outputs (text, repr, …)	PNG image
Cell outputs (matplotlib figure, …)	Embedded PNG / SVG

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Installation

pip install nb2wb

For development:

git clone https://github.com/the-palindrome/nb2wb.git
cd nb2wb
pip install -e ".[dev]"

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Usage

nb2wb notebook.ipynb                         # → notebook.html (Substack by default)
nb2wb notebook.ipynb -t medium               # → Medium format
nb2wb notebook.ipynb -t x                    # → X Articles format
nb2wb notebook.ipynb -c config.yaml          # with custom config
nb2wb notebook.ipynb -o out.html             # explicit output path
nb2wb notebook.ipynb --open                  # open in browser when done
nb2wb notebook.ipynb --serve                 # serve with ngrok tunnel (see below)

Then open the HTML file in your browser, click Copy to clipboard, and paste into your platform's draft editor.

Supported platforms

Platform	Flag	How it works
Substack	-t substack (default)	Copy and paste — images transfer automatically
Medium	-t medium	Copy and paste text, then hover each image to copy it individually (or use --serve for one-click)
X Articles	-t x	Copy and paste text, then hover each image to copy it individually (or use --serve for one-click)

Platform tips

Substack works out of the box — click Copy to clipboard, paste into your draft, and all text and images transfer in one step.

Medium strips embedded images from pasted HTML, so the default output includes per-image Copy image buttons that appear on hover. For a smoother workflow, use --serve mode (see below) which gives images public URLs that Medium can fetch automatically — one click, everything pastes.

X Articles also strips embedded images. The same two workflows apply: hover-to-copy each image individually, or use --serve for one-click pasting.

Serve mode (--serve)

Some platforms (Medium, X Articles) strip base64-embedded images but will fetch images from real HTTP URLs. The --serve flag starts a local HTTP server and exposes it via an ngrok tunnel, giving every image a public URL.

nb2wb notebook.ipynb -t medium --serve

This will:

1. Extract embedded images to an images/ directory
2. Rewrite the HTML to reference those files
3. Start a local HTTP server and an ngrok tunnel
4. Open the public URL in your browser

Copy from the opened page and paste into your editor — images transfer automatically because the platform can fetch them from the public URL. Press Ctrl-C to stop the server when done.

Requirements: ngrok must be installed and authenticated (ngrok config add-authtoken <TOKEN>). Serve mode works with any target platform (-t substack, -t medium, -t x).

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Configuration

All options are optional. Copy example_config.yaml and edit as needed:

code:
  font_size: 14           # font size for code images
  theme: "monokai"        # any Pygments style: monokai, dracula, vs, solarized-dark, …
  line_numbers: true      # show line numbers
  font: "DejaVu Sans Mono"

latex:
  font_size: 16           # font size for LaTeX images
  dpi: 150                # image resolution
  color: "black"
  background: "white"
  padding: 0.15           # whitespace around each expression (inches)
  try_usetex: true        # use a full LaTeX install when available; falls back to mathtext

Pass it with -c:

nb2wb notebook.ipynb -c config.yaml

LaTeX rendering modes

Mode	Requirement	Quality
usetex: true (default)	LaTeX + dvipng installed	Full LaTeX, best quality
mathtext fallback	None (matplotlib built-in)	Most standard expressions

If try_usetex: true and a LaTeX installation is found, full LaTeX is used automatically. Otherwise nb2wb falls back to matplotlib's mathtext, which handles most common expressions without any extra dependencies.

Cell tags

Attach tags to cells to control what appears in the output. In JupyterLab open View → Cell Toolbar → Tags; in Jupyter Notebook use View → Cell Toolbar → Tags or edit the cell metadata directly.

Tag	Effect
hide-cell	Entire cell omitted (input + output)
hide-input	Source code hidden; output shown
hide-output	Output hidden; source code shown
latex-preamble	Cell source used as LaTeX preamble; cell itself is hidden

hide-cell also works on Markdown cells.

LaTeX preamble

Custom LaTeX packages and macros can be supplied in two ways (both are combined when rendering):

1. Notebook cell (recommended for per-notebook customisation)

Tag any Markdown cell with latex-preamble. Its raw source is injected into every formula's LaTeX document. The cell is invisible in the output.

\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{accent}{HTML}{E8C547}

2. Config file (for project-wide defaults)

latex:
  preamble: |
    \usepackage{xcolor}
    \definecolor{accent}{HTML}{E8C547}

The preamble is only used when try_usetex: true and a LaTeX installation is found. The mathtext fallback ignores it.

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Code themes

Any Pygments style works:

python -c "from pygments.styles import get_all_styles; print(list(get_all_styles()))"

Popular choices: monokai, dracula, nord, solarized-dark, vs, github-dark, one-dark.

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How it works

notebook.ipynb
      │
      ▼
  [nbformat]  parse cells
      │
      ├─ Markdown cell
      │      ├─ display math   →  [matplotlib]  →  PNG image
      │      ├─ inline math    →  [unicodeit]   →  Unicode text
      │      └─ prose          →  [markdown]    →  HTML
      │
      └─ Code cell
             ├─ source         →  [PIL + Pygments]  →  PNG image
             └─ outputs
                    ├─ stream / text/plain  →  [PIL]  →  PNG image
                    ├─ image/png            →  embedded as-is
                    └─ image/svg+xml        →  embedded as-is
                                               │
                                               ▼
                                        page.html  (self-contained)

All images are base64-encoded and embedded in the HTML file — no external assets, no server required.

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Requirements

Core (installed automatically)

• Python ≥ 3.9
• nbformat — notebook parsing
• nbconvert + ipykernel — .qmd cell execution
• matplotlib — LaTeX / mathtext rendering
• Pillow — image compositing
• Pygments — syntax highlighting
• PyYAML — config and .qmd front matter parsing
• Markdown — prose conversion
• unicodeit — inline LaTeX → Unicode

Optional

Extra	Install	What it adds
examples	pip install -e ".[examples]"	NumPy — required by the bundled example notebooks
dev	pip install -e ".[dev]"	pytest, black, isort

For the best LaTeX rendering, also install a LaTeX distribution (TeX Live or MiKTeX) plus dvipng.

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License

MIT