Hey everyone,
Every now and then, you see a small change in a tool you love that completely opens up new possibilities. That happened to me today when I saw a recent commit to uv, the Python package manager I use for just about everything.
This simple addition has my brain buzzing with ideas, and I haven't been this excited about a new feature in a long time.
Running Python Scripts Directly from a Gist
For those who don't know, uv is an incredibly fast tool for managing Python projects, handling dependencies, and more. A newly merged feature now allows you to run a Python script directly from a GitHub Gist URL.
Here's an example of me running my pyfetch tool directly from its Gist:
This might seem like a small thing, but the implications for managing scripts across multiple servers are huge.
A Game Changer for Simple Scripts
I have a lot of simple Python scripts that run on my servers via cron jobs. Before, if I needed to update one of them, I'd have to log into each server, pull the changes, and make sure everything was correct.
Now, with this feature, I can just update a single Gist, and the changes are instantly live across every server the next time the script runs.
- Need to change a dependency? Just edit the script's header in the Gist.
- Need to add a new function or fix a bug? Edit the Gist.
The uv tool handles everything automatically: it fetches the script, creates a temporary virtual environment, installs the correct dependencies, and runs it. It's brilliant.
The developers even thought about security and privacy. You can use private Gists by setting an environment variable (UV_GITHUB_TOKEN) with a GitHub API key, so you don't have to expose all your utility scripts to the public.
This is one of those simple, elegant features that fundamentally changes and simplifies a common workflow.
As always,
Michael Garcia a.k.a. TheCrazyGM