Magpylib Studio

Build and explore magpylib magnet designs in VS Code. Place magnets, currents and sensors in a 3D view, name the numbers that matter, and drag a slider: the whole design follows, with the field computed exactly in milliseconds.

The Halbach rings from examples/marimo_demo.py: two rings of twelve magnets, each ring one magnet and one pattern, and the field's lines flowing through the bore. Drag n and both rings rebuild.

Get started

1. Install the extension: search for Magpylib Studio in the Extensions view, or run code --install-extension magpylib.magpylib-studio-vscode.
2. Open a folder, click the magpylib icon in the Activity Bar, choose Load Example Scene… and pick the Halbach rings from the gallery.
3. The first time, it offers to Install the Engine, the Python side of the studio. Accept: it uses the Python interpreter you have selected, if it is 3.11 or newer and you agree, or creates a .venv in the folder.

Then try a few things:

• In Variables, drag n: twenty-four magnets rebuild from one number.
• In Objects, expand a ring to see the steps that built it, and choose Edit Step… on one to change it after the fact.
• Run Sweep a Variable… on gap to plot the field against it.
• Run Edit Python Script to see the scene as code, change a line and save.

What you can do

• Work in scenes. A scene is a .magpy.json file that opens in its own tab. Several can be open side by side, each with its own undo, and Save writes them like any other file.
• Build in 3D. Add magnets, currents, sensors, or a triangular mesh from a file, from points or from a formula. Click an object to select it and drag its handles to move, turn or resize it, or to aim its polarization.
• Make it parametric. Name the numbers the scene is written in, such as radius, gap or n. Each gets a slider, a value can be an expression like 360 / n, and a typed unit is understood (15 mm, 800 mT). Save a set of values as a variant to come back to it.
• Pattern, don't copy. Pattern… repeats an object around an axis, along a direction, or as a mirror image. It is one step, so changing the original changes every copy.
• Change any step. The Objects view lists the steps that built each object. Edit one, move it earlier or later, or remove it, and everything after it is applied again. Build Up To Here shows the scene as it was at that step.
• See the field. The Field view shows it along a sensor's path, as a map over a plane, or swept against a variable.
• Switch to code and back. Edit Python Script shows the scene as a magpylib function whose parameters are the variables, and saving the tab applies your edits. Export as Python Script… writes plain magpylib that anyone can run, and Open in Magpylib Studio opens the scene a script builds.
• Keep your work. The studio keeps a backup after every edit, so open scenes come back after a reload, unsaved changes included.
• Work with a coding agent. The Python package teaches coding agents to write scenes, and the result opens here. How to set it up.

The views

Keys

In the 3D view:

In the Objects view: Cmd/Ctrl+S saves, Cmd/Ctrl+C, X and V copy, cut and paste, F2 (Enter on macOS) renames, and Delete (Cmd+Backspace on macOS) removes.

Settings

If something goes wrong

• The engine's messages are in the Magpylib Studio Engine output channel (View → Output).
• Restart Engine in the Command Palette starts the Python side again.
• The engine is looked for in this order: the magpylib-studio.pythonPath setting, a .venv in the workspace, then python3 on the PATH. An interpreter counts only if it can import magpylib_studio, which needs Python 3.11 or newer. To set it up yourself, run pip install magpylib-studio and point the setting at that interpreter.

More

• Magpylib Studio: the 3D view in notebooks, writing scenes in code, and the coding-agent skill.
• Changelog
• Contributing: building and debugging the extension.
• Issues

BSD-3-Clause, like the other packages built on magpylib.