Positron
Positron is a free-to-use, data-science-oriented IDE for Python and R, with other languages supported through extensions. It provides data science panes and workflows, such as dedicated consoles, a Variables pane, a data explorer, and a Connections pane for browsing databases.
It supports notebooks and interactive sessions via kernels and includes workflows for Jupyter Notebook and Quarto.
For Python, it can discover and work with interpreters and environments managed by tools like venv, Conda, pyenv, and uv, with compatibility for other tools such as Poetry and Pipenv.
Positron also includes Posit Assistant, an AI coding assistant that unifies the earlier Positron Assistant and Databot. It has chat, code completions, and agentic features such as plan mode, slash commands, skills, and MCP servers, with optional context from your loaded data, plots, console history, and session state.
Official website: positron.posit.co
Related Resources
Tutorial
Python IDEs and Code Editors (Guide)
Find your perfect Python development setup with this review of Python IDEs and code editors, including recommendations and screen shots.
For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:
By Leodanis Pozo Ramos • Updated Sept. 14, 2026
