scitex-plt 0.24.6

SciTeX plotting module (alias for figrecipe)

SciTeX Plt (scitex-plt)

Publication-ready plotting with auto CSV export — sys.modules alias for figrecipe

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

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Problem and Solution

#	Problem	Solution
1	Matplotlib boilerplate for publication figures — manually setting DPI, fonts, axis labels, CSV sidecars, and mm-precision layout for every paper figure	stx.plt.subplots() — thin wrapper around figrecipe returning a tracked axes with .plot_line(...), set_xyt(...), and publication-ready defaults
2	Figure and underlying data drift apart — the PNG lives in the repo, the CSV that generated it sits in a notebook cell and eventually disappears	Auto CSV export on save — stx.io.save(fig, "plot.png") writes plot.png + plot.csv + plot.yaml atomically so the data is always reproducible
3	No way for AI agents to generate figures — coding agents need a structured API, not matplotlib's stateful pyplot	MCP tools (plt_line, plt_scatter, plt_stx_*) — agents compose publication plots from CSVs via column specs, no inline arrays needed

Installation

pip install scitex-plt

This installs figrecipe as a dependency. scitex-plt is a sys.modules alias: scitex_plt is figrecipe evaluates to True after import.

Architecture

flowchart LR
    user["user code\nimport scitex_plt as plt"] -->|"sys.modules alias"| fr["figrecipe\n(actual implementation)"]
    fr --> mpl["matplotlib"]
    fr --> save["stx.io.save(fig, 'plot.png')"]
    save --> png[("plot.png")]
    save --> csv[("plot.csv\n(auto-tracked data)")]
    save --> yaml[("plot.yaml\n(recipe / params)")]

4 Interfaces

scitex-plt exposes the same four-interface surface as the rest of the SciTeX ecosystem (delegated to figrecipe):

Python API — import scitex_plt as plt

import scitex_plt as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9])
plt.save(fig, "figure.png")  # writes figure.png + figure.csv

CLI — scitex-plt --help

scitex-plt --help
scitex-plt info

MCP tools — plt_* namespace

AI agents call plt_line, plt_scatter, plt_stx_* etc. from CSV column specs.

Skills — figrecipe skill loaded by agents at startup

Loaded automatically by SciTeX-aware agents.

Demo

flowchart LR
    data[("session.csv")] --> load["stx.io.load"]
    load --> arr["NumPy / DataFrame"]
    arr --> ax["ax.plot_line(...)\nax.set_xyt(...)"]
    ax --> fig["fig"]
    fig --> savefig["stx.io.save(fig, 'plot.png')"]
    savefig --> png[("plot.png")]
    savefig --> sidecar[("plot.csv\nplot.yaml")]

Quick Start

import scitex_plt as plt

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot([1, 2, 3], [1, 4, 9])
plt.save(fig, "figure.png")  # writes figure.png + figure.csv

Part of SciTeX

scitex-plt is part of SciTeX — a Python framework for reproducible scientific computing. It is the namespace alias for figrecipe, used by sibling packages such as scitex-stats, scitex-io, and scitex-clew.

Install via pip install scitex[plt], then use scitex.plt from Python or scitex plt from the CLI.

pip install scitex[plt]   # pulls scitex-plt as part of the umbrella

import scitex as stx
stx.plt.subplots()        # routed through scitex.plt → figrecipe

scitex plt --help         # umbrella subcommand

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.

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