Milad Alizadeh introduces 'kitcat', a new matplotlib backend designed for plotting directly within compatible terminals. Frustrated with Jupyter notebooks as a development environment, the author sought a leaner, script-based workflow for matplotlib plotting. Kitcat leverages the graphic protocol popularized by Kitty, allowing image data to be sent via escape codes to terminals supporting this functionality, such as Yazi.
The backend encodes PNG pixel data into base64 and transmits it, supporting chunked data for larger images. While acknowledging the existence of 'matplotlib-backend-kitty', kitcat aims for broader compatibility across terminals supporting the protocol. Future development may include support for iTerm2 animations and the Sixel graphics standard.
The backend encodes PNG pixel data into base64 and transmits it, supporting chunked data for larger images. While acknowledging the existence of 'matplotlib-backend-kitty', kitcat aims for broader compatibility across terminals supporting the protocol. Future development may include support for iTerm2 animations and the Sixel graphics standard.
