Polyglot Notebooks for Visual Studio

Download this extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace or get the latest CI build from Open VSIX Gallery.

Write and run C#, JavaScript, SQL, and more — right inside Visual Studio. Polyglot Notebooks brings an interactive notebook experience to the IDE you already know, powered by .NET Interactive. Mix languages in a single document, share variables across cells, and see rich output instantly.

What You Get

Multi-language cells - Write C#, JavaScript, and SQL side by side in one notebook. Switch languages per cell with a dropdown or #! magic commands.

Standard notebook formats - Open and save .dib and .ipynb files. Share notebooks with VS Code users and Jupyter workflows without conversion.

Rich output - See HTML, images, tables, and formatted text rendered directly below each cell. No console window needed.

IntelliSense everywhere - Get completions, signature help, and diagnostics in every code cell — the same editing experience you expect from Visual Studio.

Cross-language variable sharing - Define a variable in C# and use it in JavaScript. The kernel handles the data transfer automatically.

Variable Explorer - Inspect all live variables across kernels in a dedicated tool window. See names, types, values, and which kernel owns each variable.

Zero setup - The extension detects and installs dotnet-interactive automatically when needed. Open a notebook file and start coding.

Item template - Create new .dib notebooks directly from the Add New Item dialog. No need to leave the IDE or copy files manually.

Getting Started

Create a New Notebook

Right-click a project or folder in Solution Explorer and select Add > New Item. Search for Polyglot Notebook in the template list. The template creates a .dib file with an empty C# code cell so you can start writing immediately.

Open a Notebook

Double-click any .dib or .ipynb file in Solution Explorer, or use File > Open > File to open one from disk. The notebook editor opens with your cells ready to run.

Write and Run Code

Type code in any cell and press Shift+Enter to execute. Output appears directly below the cell. Use the ▶ button or the run dropdown for more options like Run Cells Above and Run Cell and Below.

Switch Languages

Each cell has a language selector in its toolbar. Pick C#, JavaScript, SQL, or another available kernel. You can also type #!csharp, #!javascript, or #!sql on the first line to set the language.

Inspect Variables

Open View > Variable Explorer to see every variable across all kernels. Click any row to see its full value in the detail pane. Hit Refresh after running cells to update.

Manage the Notebook

The toolbar at the top of the editor gives you quick access to common actions:

• Run All - Execute every cell from top to bottom
• Restart + Run All - Restart the kernel and re-run everything
• Interrupt - Stop a long-running cell
• Restart Kernel - Reset kernel state without running cells
• Clear All Outputs - Remove all cell outputs at once

Organize Cells

Use the cell menu (···) to insert, move, or delete cells. Drag-and-drop reordering keeps your notebook tidy.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Example Notebooks

The examples/ folder includes ready-to-run notebooks to get you started:

• hello-world.dib - Your first notebook — a quick C# "Hello, World!"
• variable-sharing.dib - Share data between C# and JavaScript cells
• rich-output.dib - Render HTML, tables, and images in cell output
• multi-language.dib - Mix C#, JavaScript, and SQL in one document
• data-exploration.dib - Query and visualize data interactively
• basic-csharp.ipynb - C# fundamentals in Jupyter notebook format
• fsharp-notebook.ipynb - F# cells in a .ipynb file

How It Works

Polyglot Notebooks uses dotnet-interactive as its execution engine. When you open a notebook, the extension starts a kernel process in the background. Each cell's code is sent to the appropriate language kernel, and results stream back as rich output.

If dotnet-interactive isn't installed, the extension offers to install it for you automatically — no terminal commands required.

Contribute

For build instructions, architecture overview, and PR guidelines, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Issues, ideas, and pull requests are welcome.

License

Apache 2.0