Adding Contexts

Looking to build your own context? See Context Development instead. This page is about installing contexts that someone else has already built.

Contexts are distributed as Python packages and discovered automatically through Python entry points. Installing a context is just a pip install.

For example, to install a Beaker context designed for working with the PySB modeling library:

pip install beaker-pysb

The context will then be available the next time you start Beaker. You can confirm it was registered by running:

beaker context list

Installing from a wheel or local checkout

You can also install a context directly from a wheel file, a Git URL, or a local directory:

# from a wheel
pip install ./beaker_pysb-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

# from a Git URL
pip install git+https://github.com/example/beaker-pysb.git

# from a local checkout (editable install — useful while iterating)
pip install -e ./beaker-pysb

An editable install (pip install -e .) is particularly useful when you are tracking a context that is still being developed — your environment picks up changes the next time you set the context on a session, without reinstalling.

Conceptual background

For an introduction to what a context is and what it does for you, see Key Concepts > Contexts.