How to add a front-end to the free Wolfram Engine?

On Windows:

1. download and install Python: https://www.python.org/

   Don't forget to to check "add python environment variables" / "add to PATH", otherwise you will have to add python.exe path manually.

2. Download .paclet file from assets section in github : WLforJupyter > releases

   

3. In the Command Prompt (Admin):

   pip install jupyter 
   

   
   

   wolframscript
   

   
   

   PacletInstall @ "path/to/the.paclet"
   
   << WolframLanguageForJupyter`
   
   ConfigureJupyter["Add"]
   

That's all! Now in the Command Prompt: jupyter notebook This will launch a web browser. Select New -> Wolfram Language

And just for fun:

Instructions for macOS:

• Make sure you installed wolframscript along with Mathematica or the Wolfram Engine. There is a separate installer for it in the disk image.

• Install Jupyter. Detailed instructions are at https://jupyter.org/install I used Anaconda Python for this (conda install jupyter in the terminal if it's not already installed—but with Anaconda it should be).

• Clone the WolframLanguageForJupyter repository. Open a terminal, enter the directory where you want it, then run git clone https://github.com/WolframResearch/WolframLanguageForJupyter.git. See the green button on GitHub for more help.

• Enter the repository's directory, then run ./configure-jupyter.wls add

• Run jupyter notebook to start the system. Note: Do not use jupyter lab because currently WolframLanguageForJupyter does not work well with it.

Instructions for Linux (tried on Ubuntu/Mint). I tried this yesterday and ran into some issues I think deserve attention in a separate answer. This answer might also contain relevant information for debugging problems on other operating systems.

• Make sure wolframscript works from your terminal.
• Make sure Python and Jupyter are installed. Test that you can start a Jupyter notebook by running jupyter notebook. If you can't, take a look at the answer below:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/35313876/after-installing-with-pip-jupyter-command-not-found

• Clone or download the WolframLanguageForJupyter repository, following the same instructions from the other answers in this thread.

At this point you have two options. Either:

1. You navigate to the WolframLanguageForJupyter code and execute the wolframscript file with ./configure-jupyter.wls add. In my own attempt, I got a message

   Jupyter installation on Environment["PATH"] not found

this can be remedied by using the syntax

configure-jupyter.wls add "/absolute/path/to/Wolfram Engine binary" "path/to/Jupyter binary"

instead. The path to the Jupyter binary for me was ~/.local/bin/jupyter (see also the SO answer linked above). The path to the Wolfram binary you can figure out by starting wolframscript and then evaluating FileNameJoin[{$InstallationDirectory, "Executables", "WolframKernel"}].

Or:

2. You do the installation from within wolframscript:
   • Find out where your $UserBaseDirectory is: start wolframscript and then evaluate $UserBaseDirectory.
   • Navigate to this directory and copy the inner WolframLanguageForJupyter directory from the repository into the ./Applications directory. You should now have a directory structure that looks like: $UserBaseDirectory/Applications/WolframLanguageForJupyter/Kernel
   • (Re-)start wolframscript and run Needs["WolframLanguageForJupyter`"] (to load the package) and then ConfigureJupyter["Add"]. If you (still) get the error complaining about the Jupyter path, run ConfigureJupyter["Add", "JupyterInstallation" -> "path/to/Jupyter binary"] instead (see point 1 for the location of the jupyter binary).

i'd like to add for the setup on Windows for Anaconda.

After Anaconda has been installed,

1. open Anaconda Powershell Prompt

2. run wolframscript

3. and follow the installation process of Method 2 (https://github.com/WolframResearch/WolframLanguageForJupyter)

i did this without specifying any path for python or jupyter and it works. it seems the path has been set already after opening Anaconda Powershell Prompt.

If you mean front-end in the strict sense, i. e. the visual notebook interface for interactivity, the following is not for you. But if all you want is displaying visualizations / graphics (incl. typeset expressions), you could use some of the windowing functionality together with J/Link, as I explain in my video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1maEG-0nvE. Because J/Link works just fine from the engine.

For Linux only: https://github.com/Ludwiggle/JWLX

Pros: code auto-completion, neat separation between Wolfram kernel and Jupyter kernel, special functions to handle Dynamics in the browser.