scitex-introspect

IPython-style introspection for any Python package — `q`, `qq`, `dir`, signatures, source.

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

Quick Start

import scitex_introspect as ix

ix.q(my_func)        # Signature with type hints (like `my_func?`)
ix.qq(my_func)       # Full source code (like `my_func??`)
ix.dir(my_pkg)       # List attributes/methods

Demo

flowchart LR
    A["scitex_introspect.q(obj)"] --> B[".signature + type hints"]
    A2["scitex_introspect.qq(obj)"] --> C[".source"]
    A3["scitex_introspect.dir(pkg)"] --> D[".members + .list_api"]
    A4["scitex_introspect.resolve('a.b.c')"] --> E["dotted-path lookup"]
    B & C & D & E --> F["agent / REPL output"]

_{Figure 1. Entrypoints fan out to signature, source, member, and resolver helpers.}

>>> import scitex_introspect as ix, json
>>> ix.q(json.loads)
json.loads(s, *, cls=None, object_hook=None, ...)
>>> ix.dir(json)[:3]
['JSONDecodeError', 'JSONDecoder', 'JSONEncoder']

Installation

uv pip install "scitex-introspect[all]"

Requires Python ≥ 3.9.

Architecture

scitex_introspect/
├── _core.py              ← q / qq IPython-style entrypoints
├── _signature.py         ← inspect.signature with type hints
├── _docstring.py         ← docstring extraction
├── _source.py            ← getsource with fallback
├── _list_api.py          ← recursive module API tree
├── _members.py           ← attribute / method enumeration
├── _imports.py           ← static import-graph extraction
├── _call_graph.py        ← AST-based caller / callee analysis
├── _class_hierarchy.py   ← MRO + base-class walk
├── _examples.py          ← scrape doctest / examples blocks
├── _resolve.py           ← dotted-path → object resolver
├── _type_hints.py        ← typing.get_type_hints helpers
├── _mcp/                 ← MCP server tools
└── _skills/              ← agent-facing skill pages

flowchart LR
    obj["any Python object"] --> q["q / qq"]
    obj --> sig["signature / docstring / source"]
    pkg["module / package"] --> members["members / dir"]
    pkg --> tree["list_api (recursive tree)"]
    file["source file"] --> stat["imports / call_graph"]
    cls["class"] --> hier["class_hierarchy"]
    sig & members & tree & stat & hier --> out["DataFrame / text"]

_{Figure 2. Module data flow: objects, packages, files, and classes route to focused helpers.}

Thin core over inspect, importlib, ast, and typing — hard runtime deps are just pandas and scitex-logging.

2 Interfaces

import scitex_introspect as ix

# IPython-style shortcuts
ix.q(my_func)        # Signature with type hints
ix.qq(my_func)       # Full source code
ix.dir(my_pkg)       # List attributes/methods
ix.list_api(my_pkg)  # Recursive module API tree

# Detailed inspection
ix.signature(my_func)
ix.docstring(my_func)
ix.source(my_func)
ix.members(my_pkg)

# Static analysis
ix.imports(file_path)
ix.call_graph(my_func)
ix.class_hierarchy(MyClass)
ix.examples(my_func)
ix.resolve("scitex.io.save")

Status

Standalone fork of scitex.introspect. Thin core over stdlib inspect / importlib / ast / typing — hard runtime deps are just pandas and scitex-logging. The umbrella package's scitex.introspect import path is preserved via a sys.modules-alias bridge.

Part of SciTeX

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

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.

License

AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE).