SciTeX App (scitex-app)

Full Documentation · uv pip install scitex-app[all]

Problem and Solution

Backends and Operations

_{Table 1. Three deployment modes. The SDK auto-detects cloud when SCITEX_API_TOKEN is set; otherwise defaults to local filesystem.}

Every backend implements the same 7-method protocol:

_{Table 2. The FilesBackend protocol. Uses typing.Protocol for structural subtyping — backends just implement the methods, no inheritance required.}

Installation

Requires Python >= 3.10. Zero dependencies — pure stdlib.

pip install scitex-app

Architecture

src/scitex_app/
├── appmaker/        # scaffold, validate, publish helpers
├── sdk/             # FilesBackend protocol + implementations
├── _cli/            # `scitex-app` Click CLI
├── _mcp/            # MCP server entry
├── _chat/           # AI backend interface
├── _django.py       # ScitexAppConfig base class
├── paths.py         # project path resolution
├── validator.py     # AppValidator (security/privilege)
└── _standalone.py   # umbrella↔standalone bridge

Demo

flowchart LR
    App[User App] --> SDK[scitex_app.sdk.get_files]
    SDK -->|local| FS[FilesBackend - filesystem]
    SDK -->|SCITEX_API_TOKEN| Cloud[FilesBackend - cloud REST]
    SDK -->|custom| Plugin[FilesBackend - plugin]
    CLI[scitex-app appmaker] --> Init[init / validate / submit]

Quickstart

from scitex_app.sdk import get_files

# Local filesystem (default)
files = get_files("./my_project")
content = files.read("config/settings.yaml")
files.write("output/result.csv", csv_text)

# List files with filter
yaml_files = files.list("config", extensions=[".yaml"])

# Cloud mode (auto-detected via SCITEX_API_TOKEN)
import os
os.environ["SCITEX_API_TOKEN"] = "your-token"
cloud_files = get_files()  # routes through cloud REST API

Three Interfaces

from scitex_app.sdk import get_files, register_backend, FilesBackend

files = get_files("./project")        # auto-detect backend
files.read("data.csv")                # read file
files.write("out.txt", "hello")       # write file
files.list(extensions=[".yaml"])       # list with filter
files.exists("config.yaml")           # check existence
files.delete("temp.txt")              # delete file
files.rename("old.txt", "new.txt")    # rename/move
files.copy("src.txt", "dst.txt")      # copy file

scitex-app --help-recursive              # Show all commands
scitex-app read <path>                   # Read a file
scitex-app write <path> "content"        # Write to a file
scitex-app list [directory]              # List files
scitex-app exists <path>                 # Check existence
scitex-app delete <path>                 # Delete a file
scitex-app rename <old> <new>            # Rename/move a file
scitex-app copy <src> <dest>             # Copy a file
scitex-app list-python-apis              # List Python API tree
scitex-app mcp list-tools                # List MCP tools

scitex-app mcp start

App Development CLI

Create, validate, and publish SciTeX apps — no platform installation required.

# Scaffold a new app
scitex-app app init . --name my_cool_app

# Validate before submission
scitex-app app validate .

# Dev-install on your SciTeX Cloud server
scitex-app app install-dev . --server http://127.0.0.1:8000

# Submit for public review
scitex-app app submit .

Also available via the main CLI: scitex app init, scitex app validate, etc.

Role in SciTeX Ecosystem

scitex-app is the complete toolkit for app developers — runtime SDK + development CLI. It provides backend-agnostic interfaces that let apps work locally, on the cloud, or self-hosted without code changes.

scitex (orchestrator, core compute, CLI, MCP)
  |-- scitex-app (this package) -- app SDK + development CLI
  |     |-- appmaker            -- scaffold, validate, publish
  |     |-- ScitexAppConfig     -- Django base class for app integration
  |     |-- AppValidator        -- security/privilege checking
  |     |-- FilesBackend        -- unified file I/O protocol
  |     |-- paths               -- project path resolution
  |     +-- chat                -- AI backend interface
  |-- scitex-ui                 -- React/TS component library
  +-- figrecipe                 -- reference app (figures)

What this package owns:

• App scaffolding, validation, and submission (scitex-app app init/validate/submit)
• Dev-install workflow (scitex-app app dev-install)
• FilesBackend protocol and implementations (filesystem, cloud, custom)
• ScitexAppConfig Django base class (from scitex_app.embed import ScitexAppConfig)
• AppValidator for security and privilege checking
• Path resolution utilities for project/workspace discovery

What this package does NOT own:

• Frontend components -- see scitex-ui
• Platform server APIs -- see scitex-hub
• Core compute (io, stats, plt) -- see scitex

Part of SciTeX

scitex-app is part of SciTeX. Install via the umbrella with pip install scitex[app] to use as scitex.app (Python) or scitex app ... (CLI).

import scitex

# Access files through the unified SDK
files = scitex.app.get_files("./project")
content = files.read("recipes/scatter.yaml")
files.write("output/figure.png", png_bytes)

Apps built with scitex-app work in all three modes:

• Standalone: pip install figrecipe runs locally with filesystem backend
• Cloud: Deploy to scitex.ai — cloud backend injected automatically
• Self-hosted: Run your own instance with custom backends

The SciTeX system follows the Four Freedoms for Research below, inspired by the Free Software Definition:

Four Freedoms for Research

0. The freedom to run your research anywhere — your machine, your terms.
1. The freedom to study how every step works — from raw data to final manuscript.
2. The freedom to redistribute your workflows, not just your papers.
3. The freedom to modify any module and share improvements with the community.

AGPL-3.0 — because we believe research infrastructure deserves the same freedoms as the software it runs on.