pudb

What it is and what it does

PuDB is a terminal-based Python debugger that replaces the command-line pdb with a full-screen interface where your source code, variables, stack trace, and breakpoints are all visible and continuously updated. It uses keyboard shortcuts (Vi-style and cursor keys supported) to navigate, set breakpoints, step through code, and inspect state—all without leaving your terminal. The package depends on urwid for terminal UI rendering, jedi for code completion, pygments for syntax highlighting, and a few utility libraries.

You launch it by running your script through the pudb module or by calling set_trace() in your code. It supports themes (light and dark), exception post-mortem debugging, dropping into a Python shell mid-session, and module browsing. The aging maintenance status (last release 251 days ago) suggests the core functionality is stable but new features or bug fixes may arrive slowly.

Use it for:

• Debug Python scripts interactively in a terminal without switching to a GUI IDE.
• Inspect variable state and stack frames with a full-screen view while stepping through code.
• Set and manage breakpoints visually by navigating to a line and pressing 'b'.
• Perform post-mortem debugging after an exception to trace the crash path.
• Drop into a Python shell mid-debugging session to test expressions in the current scope.
• Debug on remote or headless servers where GUI debuggers are impractical.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

PuDB is a full-screen console-based visual debugger for Python that brings GUI debugger features into the terminal, letting you inspect code, variables, and stack traces with keyboard navigation.

Yes, if you spend significant time debugging in the terminal and want a more visual alternative to pdb. The low install friction, permissive license, and stable feature set make it a solid choice. The aging maintenance status is a minor concern—expect slower updates—but the package is mature and widely used (top 5000 on PyPI). No known vulnerabilities.

Install

pudb on PyPI

pip install pudb

uv add pudb

poetry add pudb

Installing pudb

Before you install

Low friction install with six runtime dependencies (jedi, packaging, pygments, typing-extensions, urwid-readline, urwid). Maintenance status is aging—last release was 251 days ago—so expect slower response to issues, though the package has been stable since 2009.

License in practice

MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute PuDB freely in both open-source and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install pudb

python -m pudb your_script.py

# Or in code:
import pudb; pudb.set_trace()

Requires Python 3.8 or newer; terminal must support curses (POSIX/Unix environments; Windows requires WSL or similar).

Verify before relying

• Whether IPython integration (mentioned in description) is fully functional in current version.
• Whether remote debugging from a separate terminal is actively maintained.
• Performance characteristics when debugging large codebases or deeply nested call stacks.

Package facts

Evidence: pudb-2025.1.5-py3-none-any.whl

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