By Mike Levin

Understanding Web Development Workflows with AI

This article delves into the practical aspects of modern web development, showcasing how interactive components, often called “widgets,” are built and refined. The author uses a combination of technologies including Python for the backend logic, libraries like FastHTML and HTMX to create dynamic user interfaces efficiently, and JavaScript libraries like Prism.js for features such as displaying formatted code snippets. A key theme is the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) coding assistants (like Claude and Gemini) directly into the development workflow, not just for writing code, but also for planning implementation steps and documenting the process.

The discussion covers specific technical challenges, such as fetching external code libraries, displaying data tables generated using the Pandas library, and ensuring code looks visually appealing with syntax highlighting. It also touches upon broader software development concepts like the difficulty of completing the final stages of a project and the impact of AI on innovation and established practices. This provides a window into the day-to-day problem-solving and decision-making involved in building web applications today, especially when leveraging AI collaboration.

Morning Development Session: Implementing PrismJS Dependencies

Okay, it’s coming up on 11:00 AM already. I gave my brain a few hours break after that last session that went from 6 to 8 AM. That’s about 3 hours break. I have a pizza delivery order in. I really need to do the grocery shopping, but I don’t want to break momentum. This is about bearing down hard on the little bit of work that’s left. I already started implementing grabbing the PrismJS dependencies and putting them local, per Claude’s implementation planning in the previous discussion:

[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate/precursors]$ python install_static_library.py 
Starting JavaScript library download...
Downloading 'prism-core' from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.29.0/prism.min.js...
Successfully saved to: /home/mike/repos/pipulate/static/prism.min.js
Downloading 'prism-theme' from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.29.0/themes/prism-okaidia.min.css...
Successfully saved to: /home/mike/repos/pipulate/static/prism-okaidia.min.css
Downloading 'prism-copy' from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.29.0/plugins/copy-to-clipboard/prism-copy-to-clipboard.min.js...
Successfully saved to: /home/mike/repos/pipulate/static/prism-copy-to-clipboard.min.js
Downloading 'prism-line-numbers' from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.29.0/plugins/line-numbers/prism-line-numbers.min.js...
Successfully saved to: /home/mike/repos/pipulate/static/prism-line-numbers.min.js
Downloading 'prism-line-numbers-css' from https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/prism/1.29.0/plugins/line-numbers/prism-line-numbers.min.css...
Successfully saved to: /home/mike/repos/pipulate/static/prism-line-numbers.min.css
Download process finished. 5/5 libraries downloaded successfully.

The Paradox of Project Completion: The Last 10% is the New 90%

Oh, and technically while I let my brain rest, I wrote this article on the last 10% is the remaining 90%. This will actually be an implementation article about the last 10%, but still I’ll just put this here:

We are 90% of the way there and the last 10% of the project is the new 90% that still remains.

The Devil in the Details: Why Projects Expand Near Completion

The devil is in the details. Things are never as easy as you think and as you approach the finish line it drifts away from you. This has been articulated countless times in tech. There are many reasons from this ranging from unaccounted for factors at the outset to the unrealistic pursuit of perfection later on. Released early, iterate fast, break often is one of the new mantras in tech specifically to address this.

AI as a Safety Net: The Modern Approach to Breaking Things

A modernized version might add an addendum about how you should be fearless in this break-often approach because when you do break things, you now have AI assistance in getting it working again. They can scour your git histories and branches and spot what’s what, cherry-picking that good parts like few humans can, because this is their superpower. What they lack in creativity and initiative, they make up for in pattern recognition. That makes them a wonderful safetynet — a multi-threading Undo/Redo feature: Redo but better this time!

The Rise of One-Shot Development in the AI Era

As everything goes agentic, the number of 1-shot developers who go from prompt to finished product are going to explode. From there they vibe-code talking the finished product into successive iterations. The existing codebase and perhaps the discussion it took to get there becomes the context for each successive iteration. And this has some validity to it depending on the nature of the app. Some apps will lend themselves to this approach and others will probably not. I rather suspect those that require extreme granular control and creativity will not.

The GitHub Effect: Why One-Shot Development Works

The 1-shot approach is even a thing because there’s something “close enough” that already exists in GitHub. Yet another version of Python Snake, Androids or Breakout. Even the increasingly large Rubiks Cube examples is just the increasingly meticulous responding of prior art. And the greatest Rube Goldberg machine of modern times is the Web Full Stack with Redux, Kubernetes, Docker, Node, yadda yadda. All that stuff to achieve massively scalable enterprise web apps for building empires. It’s all anyone’s cared about for a good long while. AIs are over-trained on it.

The Loneliness of Innovation: Going Off the Beaten Track

Going off the beaten track as an outlier doing creative things, perhaps for the first time in history, is a lonely place to be. The AIs will not like it because they cannot help you so much there, and so they will try to corral and wrangle you back to their familiar turf. The amount of self-determination and will that you need as a human to not be intellectually manhandled as such by AI is formidable. There is nothing to undermine your confidence like a machine telling you you’re doing something wrong.

The Mechanical Proof: When Working Code Validates Innovation

Thankfully, it was all things mechanical the proof is in the machinery. If the machine works, then the hypothesis is correct. The AI shepherds must expand their worldview to accommodate your new anti-pattern. They have no choice, because while the convention often determines the rule, the working exception does demonstrate can be broken and that there is something fundamentally flawed or incomplete in the rule. This happens all the time to simplify things. It’s called heuristics. If you took everything into account all the time, processing systems would get bogged down by the detail details.

Breaking Heuristics: The Path to Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage comes from breaking heuristics. If there is a shortcut-taking machine — a loophole finder — it is an opportunity waiting for you. Everything is built, expecting you to stay on those rails. If you go off the rails, competitors cannot plot your course. While it is perhaps good that this off the rails behavior is a bit unnerving for your competitors, it is perhaps not so good that it is unnerving for your AI coding assistant. They want to help you. They are programmed to actually do right by you. And so what you do is provide them copious examples of your anti-patterns working.

The Paradox of AI-Assisted Development

At the same time as so much more becoming possible because AI, so much less will in actuality be explored and done because AI. That’s the rub of best practices and the wisdom of the crowd being instantaneously at your fingertips. Nine times out of 10 what you want to do is exactly best practices and what the wisdom of the crowd will compel you towards. It’s just that it is that one out of 10 times that it’s not where competitive advantage resides.

Maintaining Linear Progress: The True Meaning of Acceleration

In order to not have been continuously made larger as you approached the finish line, you inherently accelerate as you get closer. Acceleration isn’t always necessarily about hockey stick curves going to the right on a chart. Sometimes it’s about maintaining linear progress.

Zeroing In: The Final Widget Project Details

And so what I’m doing is zeroing in on the last remaining part of this widget project. It’s like, okay now I have widgets. But what I’m really going to need to do is display pretty JavaScript and make it easy to copy/paste somewhere else. And so, this project. Keep chipping steadily away.

Me: Excellent, Claude! That worked! Thank you! Now please review everything you did from the time I said:

Okay, I have done all of this except for the “Finally” step, implementing Step 5 in @60_widget_examples.py . Please do, and thank you!

…and continue the article that I started writing, letting the people know in pedantic detail with plenty of code samples what you did from that point. It starts out with me having done a couple of the implementation details you specified such as making the PrismJS resources local, adding them to the fast_app call, and updating our widget-scripts.js file. But then you took it from there on implementing step 5. Put it here in article format and I’ll extend the article, please and thank you.

Claude: ## Implementing the Code Syntax Highlighter with Prism.js in Pipulate

After preparing the groundwork by making Prism.js resources local, adding them to the fast_app call, and updating the widget-scripts.js file, we implemented Step 5 in the widget examples workflow - a code syntax highlighter using Prism.js.

Step 5 Implementation

First, we added a new step to the workflow steps list:

Step(
    id='step_05',
    done='code_content',
    show='Code Syntax Highlighter',
    refill=True,
),

Next, we updated the get_suggestion method to include an example for Step 5:

'step_05': """function calculateFactorial(n) {
    // Base case: factorial of 0 or 1 is 1
    if (n <= 1) {
        return 1;
    }
    
    // Recursive case: n! = n * (n-1)!
    return n * calculateFactorial(n - 1);
}

// Example usage
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    console.log(`Factorial of ${i} is ${calculateFactorial(i)}`);
}
"""

Then we implemented two key methods for the code syntax highlighter:

1. The GET handler for the step, which displays either the form or the highlighted code:

async def step_05(self, request):
    """ Handles GET request for Step 5: Code Syntax Highlighter. """
    pip, db, steps, app_name = self.pipulate, self.db, self.steps, self.app_name
    step_id = "step_05"
    step_index = self.steps_indices[step_id]
    step = steps[step_index]
    next_step_id = steps[step_index + 1].id if step_index < len(steps) - 1 else 'finalize'
    pipeline_id = db.get("pipeline_id", "unknown")
    state = pip.read_state(pipeline_id)
    step_data = pip.get_step_data(pipeline_id, step_id, {})
    user_val = step_data.get(step.done, "")
    
    # Check if workflow is finalized
    finalize_data = pip.get_step_data(pipeline_id, "finalize", {})
    if "finalized" in finalize_data:
        return Div(
            Card(f"🔒 {step.show}: <content locked>"),
            Div(id=next_step_id, hx_get=f"/{app_name}/{next_step_id}", hx_trigger="load")
        )
        
    # Check if step is complete and not reverting
    if user_val and state.get("_revert_target") != step_id:
        # Create the prism widget from the existing code
        try:
            widget_id = f"prism-widget-{pipeline_id.replace('-', '_')}-{step_id}"
            prism_widget = self.create_prism_widget(user_val, widget_id)
            content_container = pip.widget_container(
                step_id=step_id,
                app_name=app_name,
                message=f"{step.show} Configured",
                widget=prism_widget,
                steps=steps
            )
            
            response = HTMLResponse(
                to_xml(
                    Div(
                        content_container,
                        Div(id=next_step_id, hx_get=f"/{app_name}/{next_step_id}", hx_trigger="load")
                    )
                )
            )
            
            # Add HX-Trigger to initialize Prism highlighting
            response.headers["HX-Trigger"] = json.dumps({
                "initializePrism": {
                    "targetId": widget_id
                }
            })
            
            return response
        except Exception as e:
            # If there's an error creating the widget, revert to input form
            logger.error(f"Error creating Prism widget: {str(e)}")
            state["_revert_target"] = step_id
            pip.write_state(pipeline_id, state)
    
    # Show input form
    display_value = user_val if step.refill and user_val else await self.get_suggestion(step_id, state)
    await self.message_queue.add(pip, self.step_messages[step_id]["input"], verbatim=True)
    
    return Div(
        Card(
            H4(f"{pip.fmt(step_id)}: Configure {step.show}"),
            P("Enter code to be highlighted with syntax coloring. JavaScript example is pre-populated."),
            P("The code will be displayed with syntax highlighting and a copy button.", 
              style="font-size: 0.8em; font-style: italic;"),
            Form(
                Div(
                    Textarea(
                        display_value,
                        name=step.done,
                        placeholder="Enter code for syntax highlighting",
                        required=True,
                        rows=15,
                        style="width: 100%; font-family: monospace;"
                    ),
                    Div(
                        Button("Submit", type="submit", cls="primary"),
                        style="margin-top: 1vh; text-align: right;"
                    ),
                    style="width: 100%;"
                ),
                hx_post=f"/{app_name}/{step_id}_submit",
                hx_target=f"#{step_id}"
            )
        ),
        Div(id=next_step_id),
        id=step_id
    )

1. The POST handler that processes the submitted code and renders it with Prism:

async def step_05_submit(self, request):
    """ Process the submission for Step 5. """
    pip, db, steps, app_name = self.pipulate, self.db, self.steps, self.app_name
    step_id = "step_05"
    step_index = self.steps_indices[step_id]
    step = steps[step_index]
    pipeline_id = db.get("pipeline_id", "unknown")
    next_step_id = steps[step_index + 1].id if step_index < len(steps) - 1 else 'finalize'

    # Get form data
    form = await request.form()
    user_val = form.get(step.done, "")

    # Validate input
    is_valid, error_msg, error_component = pip.validate_step_input(user_val, step.show)
    if not is_valid:
        return error_component

    # Save the value to state
    await pip.update_step_state(pipeline_id, step_id, user_val, steps)
    
    # Generate unique widget ID for this step and pipeline
    widget_id = f"prism-widget-{pipeline_id.replace('-', '_')}-{step_id}"
    
    # Generate a unique ID for the hidden textarea
    textarea_id = f"{widget_id}_raw_code"
    
    # Create container for the widget
    container = Div(
        Div(
            H5("Syntax Highlighted Code:"),
            # Add a hidden textarea to hold the raw code (much safer than trying to escape it for JS)
            Textarea(
                user_val,
                id=textarea_id,
                style="display: none;"  # Hide the textarea
            ),
            # Add a simple copy button that reads from the hidden textarea
            Button(
                "Copy Code", 
                type="button",
                _onclick=f"""
                    (function() {{
                        const textarea = document.getElementById('{textarea_id}');
                        navigator.clipboard.writeText(textarea.value)
                            .then(() => {{
                                this.textContent = 'Copied!';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }})
                            .catch(err => {{
                                console.error('Failed to copy:', err);
                                this.textContent = 'Error';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }});
                    }})();
                """,
                style="margin-bottom: 10px;"
            ),
            # This pre/code structure is required for Prism.js
            Pre(
                Code(
                    user_val,
                    cls="language-javascript"  # Language class for Prism
                ),
                cls="line-numbers"  # Enable line numbers
            ),
            style="margin-top: 1rem;"
        ),
        id=widget_id
    )
    
    # Create script to initialize Prism with debugging
    init_script = Script(
        f"""
        (function() {{
            console.log('Prism widget loaded, ID: {widget_id}');
            // Check if Prism is loaded
            if (typeof Prism === 'undefined') {{
                console.error('Prism library not found');
                return;
            }}
            
            // Attempt to manually trigger highlighting
            setTimeout(function() {{
                try {{
                    console.log('Manually triggering Prism highlighting for {widget_id}');
                    Prism.highlightAllUnder(document.getElementById('{widget_id}'));
                }} catch(e) {{
                    console.error('Error during manual Prism highlighting:', e);
                }}
            }}, 300);
        }})();
        """,
        type="text/javascript"
    )
    
    return Div(container, init_script)

Finally, we implemented a helper method to create and render Prism widgets:

def create_prism_widget(self, code, widget_id):
    """Create a Prism.js syntax highlighting widget with copy functionality."""
    # Generate a unique ID for the hidden textarea
    textarea_id = f"{widget_id}_raw_code"
    
    # Create container for the widget
    container = Div(
        Div(
            H5("Syntax Highlighted Code:"),
            # Add a hidden textarea to hold the raw code (much safer than trying to escape it for JS)
            Textarea(
                code,
                id=textarea_id,
                style="display: none;"  # Hide the textarea
            ),
            # Add a simple copy button that reads from the hidden textarea
            Button(
                "Copy Code", 
                type="button",
                _onclick=f"""
                    (function() {{
                        const textarea = document.getElementById('{textarea_id}');
                        navigator.clipboard.writeText(textarea.value)
                            .then(() => {{
                                this.textContent = 'Copied!';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }})
                            .catch(err => {{
                                console.error('Failed to copy:', err);
                                this.textContent = 'Error';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }});
                    }})();
                """,
                style="margin-bottom: 10px;"
            ),
            # This pre/code structure is required for Prism.js
            Pre(
                Code(
                    code,
                    cls="language-javascript"  # Language class for Prism
                ),
                cls="line-numbers"  # Enable line numbers
            ),
            style="margin-top: 1rem;"
        ),
        id=widget_id
    )
    
    # Create script to initialize Prism with debugging
    init_script = Script(
        f"""
        (function() {{
            console.log('Prism widget loaded, ID: {widget_id}');
            // Check if Prism is loaded
            if (typeof Prism === 'undefined') {{
                console.error('Prism library not found');
                return;
            }}
            
            // Attempt to manually trigger highlighting
            setTimeout(function() {{
                try {{
                    console.log('Manually triggering Prism highlighting for {widget_id}');
                    Prism.highlightAllUnder(document.getElementById('{widget_id}'));
                }} catch(e) {{
                    console.error('Error during manual Prism highlighting:', e);
                }}
            }}, 300);
        }})();
        """,
        type="text/javascript"
    )
    
    return Div(container, init_script)

Key Implementation Features

The code syntax highlighter implementation includes several important features:

1. Hidden Textarea: We store the raw code in a hidden textarea, making it easy to copy without HTML entities or formatting issues.

2. Copy Functionality: A dedicated “Copy Code” button that reads from the hidden textarea and uses the clipboard API.

3. Prism Integration: The code uses Prism.js’s required HTML structure with <pre> and <code> elements with appropriate language classes.

4. Automatic Initialization: We use a self-executing script to initialize Prism.js highlighting after DOM insertion.

5. Line Numbers: Enabled through Prism’s line-numbers CSS class on the <pre> element.

6. Error Handling: The implementation includes robust error checking to prevent workflow disruption if Prism.js isn’t loaded.

7. Delayed Execution: A small timeout ensures the DOM is fully rendered before applying syntax highlighting.

This implementation completes our widget examples workflow, showcasing five different types of widgets that can be integrated into Pipulate workflows.

Planning The Polish & Final Assembly

Wow, this went super-smooth. After a 3-hour deep thought session where we planned the implementation, and then a 3-hour brain-rest, it only took 20 minutes to do the implementation, including this article documenting it!

I’m going to put polish on the @60_widget_examples.py file now, the things I made low-priority in the prompt that just gave me the color-coded JavaScript display widget with a built-in copy button. These are the remaining issues that I need to polish:

• Rich Library rendering. This can be deferred
• Using <pre> tags for step 1 output widget rendering
• Showing rendered widgets on locked workflows
• Removal of double-display of original input rendered output of widgets

So, investigate… just talked with Gemini 2.5 Experimental about the Rich part of this. It looks like my most likely path is to use Panda’s built-in to_html() method, however when Gemini talks me through implementation (which I told it not to), it tries to show me a Jinja2 implementation. And so, I assume it’s time for a little context foo…

FILES_TO_INCLUDE = """\
README.md
flake.nix
server.py
plugins/60_widget_examples.py
.cursorrules
/home/mike/repos/MikeLev.in/_posts/2025-04-26-htmx-widgets-ai-implementation.md
/home/mike/repos/MikeLev.in/_posts/2025-04-26-llm-architecture-ai-collaboration-coding-workflows.md
/home/mike/repos/MikeLev.in/_posts/2025-04-26-fasthtml-htmx-javascript-rendering.md
/home/mike/repos/MikeLev.in/_posts/2025-04-27-local-javascript-download-script.md
""".splitlines()[:-1]  # Remove the last empty line

Gemini, Please give me an implementation given the codebase and history you now see that will replace the Python Rich widget datagrid visualization implementation, making it based on Panda’s built-in to_html() method like you propose.

Gemini 2.5 Experimental’s Rich to to_html() Plan

Okay, I have analyzed the latest context, including the request to replace the Rich table widget in plugins/60_widget_examples.py (Step 2) with one based on Pandas to_html(). Here is the implementation plan:

Introduction

The goal is to modify Step 2 of the plugins/60_widget_examples.py workflow. Currently, it uses the Python Rich library to generate an HTML representation of a table, which mimics terminal output. The requirement is to replace this with a standard HTML table generated directly from a Pandas DataFrame using its built-in .to_html() method. This aligns with the user’s preference for generating semantic HTML table fragments suitable for web UIs and HTMX integration.

Implementation Areas

1. Required Changes

• Dependency Management (flake.nix & requirements.txt):
  • requirements.txt: Add pandas to this file.
  • flake.nix: No direct changes should be needed here if requirements.txt is correctly processed by the Nix shell setup (as indicated by the runScript in flake.nix which calls pip install -r requirements.txt). However, after modifying requirements.txt, the Nix environment needs to be re-entered (exit then nix develop) to ensure the dependency is installed in the .venv.
• plugins/60_widget_examples.py:
  • Imports: Add import pandas as pd at the top of the file. Add from fastcore.xml import NotStr if not already present.
  • step_02 (GET Handler):
    • Modify the input prompt/placeholder in the TextArea to clearly indicate that the expected input is JSON data suitable for creating a Pandas DataFrame (e.g., a JSON array of objects like [{"col1": "val1", "col2": "val2"}, ...]).
    • Update the example suggestion provided by get_suggestion for step_02 to match this JSON format.
  • step_02_submit (POST Handler):
    • Data Parsing: Replace the Rich table creation logic with Pandas DataFrame creation. Parse the incoming JSON string (user_val) into a Python list of dictionaries. Handle potential json.JSONDecodeError. Create a Pandas DataFrame from this list: df = pd.DataFrame(json_data). Handle potential errors during DataFrame creation.
    • HTML Generation: Call df.to_html(...) to generate the HTML table string. Configure parameters for standard web output:

        html_table_string = df.to_html(
            index=False,        # Don't include DataFrame index
            classes='table',    # Add a CSS class (e.g., for PicoCSS styling)
            border=0,           # Remove default HTML border attribute
            escape=True         # Keep default HTML escaping for security
        )
      

    • Widget Creation: Create the FastHTML component to hold the raw HTML string. This requires using NotStr and _raw=True:

        pandas_table_widget = Div(NotStr(html_table_string), _raw=True)
      

    • Return Structure: Modify the return statement to pass pandas_table_widget to pip.widget_container and ensure the entire structure is correctly converted using str(to_xml(...)) within HTMLResponse.

        # Example return structure
        response = HTMLResponse(to_xml(
            Div(
                pip.widget_container(
                    step_id=step_id,
                    app_name=app_name,
                    message=f"{step.show}: Table rendered via Pandas",
                    widget=pandas_table_widget, # Pass the raw HTML widget
                    steps=steps
                ),
                Div(id=f"{steps[step_index + 1].id}", hx_get=f"/{app_name}/{steps[step_index + 1].id}", hx_trigger="load"),
                id=step_id
            )
        ))
        return response
      

  • Helper Function (create_rich_table): Remove or rename this helper method as it’s no longer used for Step 2. The Pandas logic can reside directly in step_02_submit or be extracted into a new helper like create_pandas_table_widget.

2. Integration Strategy

• Existing Patterns:
  • Maintain the workflow structure (step_02, step_02_submit).
  • Continue using pipulate.widget_container for consistent layout below the revert control.
  • Crucially, use the Div(NotStr(...), _raw=True) pattern combined with HTMLResponse(str(to_xml(...))) for rendering the raw HTML generated by .to_html().
  • Follow existing input validation patterns using pip.validate_step_input and add specific JSON/DataFrame validation.
• Conventions: Adhere to FastHTML component usage and the project’s Python coding style.
• Backward Compatibility: These changes are isolated to Step 2 of the 60_widget_examples.py plugin. Adding the pandas dependency might increase the initial setup time slightly but won’t break existing workflows.

3. Implementation Plan

1. Dependency Update:
   • Task: Add pandas to requirements.txt.
   • Action: Edit the file and add the line pandas.
   • Action: Exit the current Nix shell (exit) and re-enter (nix develop) to trigger the pip install -r requirements.txt command defined in flake.nix, installing Pandas into the .venv. Verify installation (e.g., python -c "import pandas" inside the Nix shell).
2. Implement step_02_submit Changes:
   • Task: Modify the POST handler for Step 2.
   • Action: Add import pandas as pd. Replace the Rich table logic with:
     • JSON parsing (json.loads).
     • DataFrame creation (pd.DataFrame).
     • HTML generation (df.to_html(...)).
     • Raw HTML widget creation (Div(NotStr(...), _raw=True)).
     • Update the pip.widget_container call.
     • Ensure the HTMLResponse(str(to_xml(...))) pattern is correctly applied to the entire returned component structure.
   • Action: Add try...except blocks for JSON and Pandas errors, returning appropriate error messages (e.g., using P("Invalid JSON format...", style=pip.get_style("error"))).
3. Implement step_02 (GET) Changes:
   • Task: Modify the GET handler for Step 2.
   • Action: Update the placeholder text in the TextArea and the example in get_suggestion to reflect the expected JSON input format for a DataFrame.
4. Remove/Update Helper:
   • Task: Clean up the old Rich table helper.
   • Action: Delete or comment out the create_rich_table method. Optionally create a create_pandas_table_widget if desired for separation.
5. Testing:
   • Task: Verify Step 2 functionality.
   • Action: Run the widgets workflow. Submit valid JSON data in Step 2. Verify the table renders correctly as a standard HTML table (inspect element in browser). Test with invalid JSON to ensure error handling works.
   • Action: Test reverting from Step 3 back to Step 2 and resubmitting.
   • Action: Test the full workflow including finalize/unfinalize to ensure Step 2 integrates smoothly.

Potential Challenges & Risks:

• Pandas Installation: Ensure pandas installs correctly within the Nix-managed virtual environment. Conflicts are unlikely but possible.
• HTML Rendering (_raw/NotStr/to_xml): Double-check that the raw HTML from to_html is not accidentally escaped anywhere in the FastHTML rendering pipeline. This remains the most critical integration point. Log the final HTML string within the HTMLResponse if needed for debugging.
• Input Validation: Robustly handling malformed JSON or data unsuitable for DataFrame creation is important for user experience.
• Large DataFrames: Very large DataFrames could lead to large HTML strings, potentially impacting performance. This is unlikely for typical widget examples but could be a consideration for real-world applications.

This plan provides a clear path to replacing the Rich table with a Pandas to_html() implementation, adhering to the project’s architecture and addressing the specific nuances of rendering raw HTML within FastHTML.

Over to Claude 3.7 Sonnet (in Cursor)

It seems a shame to dump the Rich library after all this work integrating it, but if a DataGrid doesn’t look like a DataGrid, the negative reaction from users is sufficient to make it like not having implemented it in the first place. I need real HTML DataGrids driven from Pandas (or Polars) DataFrames. But we have to do it. So Claude, please follow out Gemini’s instructions here insofar as they make sense to you.

There is some question as to whether we keep no longer used functions because we’re not using the Rich library. Do whatever is simplest for you during implementation. If keeping dead code around, just notate it as such. Our focus now is getting a true HTML table fragment inserted into the DOM with HTMX so I can begin building it out to have a server-side implementation of something not too dissimilar form IPyTables or Quak. But don’t go overboard. Bank a small win of just displaying a small table in the first place just like our Rich example. We will add features later.

And so that’s it, Claude. Please replace the use of Rich with the use of Panda’s to_html() method, inserting a <table> element in for the table display widget, please and thank you.

OMG, this is amazing! Claude basically replaced Rich with Pandas to_html on the first try, but there were a number of other things that got whacked out of place having to do with step 4 and 5, which Claude cleaned up after. Claude additionally added language support beyond JavaScript for the widget display, which really opens the door to Workflows that teach you how to make Workflows! But what I really want to do is to ask Claude to capture the lightning in a bottle with really good pedantic documentation with plenty of code examples for everything it did since I made the “replace Rich with Pandas to_html” request.

Claude, please put it in nice article format here in chat using the style we’ve been using. We will use it to close out this article about having just knocked out the first of the remaining to-do items for polishing the widget example workflow.

• Rich Library rendering, replace with Pandas to_html() method
• Using <pre> tags for step 1 output widget rendering
• Showing rendered widgets on locked workflows
• Removal of double-display of original input rendered output of widgets

Take it away!

Claude:

Enhancing Widget Workflows in Pipulate: From Rich to Pandas

In this article, we’ll explore the recent improvements to Pipulate’s widget examples workflow, focusing on several key enhancements that have made the system more robust, flexible, and user-friendly.

1. Replacing Rich Tables with Pandas HTML Rendering

The first major improvement was replacing the Rich library’s table rendering with Pandas’ native to_html() method. This change offers several advantages:

# Previous approach using Rich library
def create_rich_table(self, data_str):
    console = Console(record=True, width=100)
    table = Table(show_header=True, header_style="bold magenta")
    
    # Add columns and rows from data
    data = json.loads(data_str)
    # [Rich table setup code]
    
    console.print(table)
    return console.export_html()

# New approach using Pandas to_html()
def create_pandas_table(self, data_str):
    try:
        # Parse the JSON data
        data = json.loads(data_str)
        
        # Create a pandas DataFrame
        df = pd.DataFrame(data)
        
        # Generate HTML table with styling
        html_table = df.to_html(
            index=False,            # Don't include DataFrame index
            classes='table',        # Add a CSS class for styling
            border=0,               # Remove default HTML border attribute
            escape=True,            # Keep default HTML escaping for security
            justify='left'          # Align text to left
        )
        
        # Create a styled container for the table with responsive design
        table_container = Div(
            H5("Pandas DataFrame Table:"),
            # Add the HTML table with NotStr to prevent escaping
            Div(
                NotStr(html_table),
                style="overflow-x: auto; max-width: 100%;"
            ),
            style="margin-top: 1rem;"
        )
        
        return table_container
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error creating pandas table: {e}")
        return Div(NotStr(f"<div style='color: red;'>Error creating table: {str(e)}</div>"), _raw=True)

Benefits of the Pandas Approach:

1. Better Integration: Pandas tables integrate more naturally with web interfaces.
2. Responsive Design: The implementation includes responsive wrapping for mobile screens.
3. Styling Consistency: Tables follow the application’s CSS theme automatically.
4. Error Handling: Robust error handling with clear user feedback.
5. Format Flexibility: Can handle different input formats (list of dicts, nested lists).

2. Language Detection for Code Syntax Highlighting

A significant enhancement to the code syntax highlighting widget was adding automatic language detection from markdown-style code blocks:

# Language detection for syntax highlighting
language = 'javascript'  # Default language
if user_val.startswith('```'):
    # Try to extract language from markdown-style code block
    first_line = user_val.split('\n', 1)[0].strip()
    if len(first_line) > 3:
        detected_lang = first_line[3:].strip()
        if detected_lang:
            language = detected_lang
            # Remove the language specification line from the code
            user_val = user_val.split('\n', 1)[1] if '\n' in user_val else user_val
    
    # Remove trailing backticks if present
    if user_val.endswith('```'):
        user_val = user_val.rsplit('```', 1)[0]

Users can now input code using familiar markdown syntax:

def hello_world():
    print("Hello, World!")

The system automatically detects “python” as the language and applies the correct syntax highlighting. This creates a more intuitive workflow for users familiar with markdown in documentation or platforms like GitHub.

3. Improved Prism.js Widget Implementation

The Prism.js syntax highlighting widget was updated to support multiple languages and provide a better user experience:

def create_prism_widget(self, code, widget_id, language='javascript'):
    """Create a Prism.js syntax highlighting widget with copy functionality.
    
    Args:
        code (str): The code to highlight
        widget_id (str): Unique ID for the widget
        language (str): The programming language for syntax highlighting (default: javascript)
    """
    # Generate a unique ID for the hidden textarea
    textarea_id = f"{widget_id}_raw_code"
    
    # Create container for the widget
    container = Div(
        Div(
            H5("Syntax Highlighted Code:"),
            # Add a hidden textarea to hold the raw code
            Textarea(
                code,
                id=textarea_id,
                style="display: none;"  # Hide the textarea
            ),
            # Add a simple copy button that reads from the hidden textarea
            Button(
                "Copy Code", 
                type="button",
                _onclick=f"""
                    (function() {{
                        const textarea = document.getElementById('{textarea_id}');
                        navigator.clipboard.writeText(textarea.value)
                            .then(() => {{
                                this.textContent = 'Copied!';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }})
                            .catch(err => {{
                                console.error('Failed to copy:', err);
                                this.textContent = 'Error';
                                setTimeout(() => this.textContent = 'Copy Code', 2000);
                            }});
                    }})();
                """,
                style="margin-bottom: 10px;"
            ),
            # This pre/code structure is required for Prism.js
            Pre(
                Code(
                    code,
                    cls=f"language-{language}"  # Dynamic language class for Prism
                ),
                cls="line-numbers"  # Enable line numbers
            ),
            style="margin-top: 1rem;"
        ),
        id=widget_id
    )
    
    # Create script to initialize Prism with debugging
    init_script = Script(
        # [JavaScript for Prism initialization]
        type="text/javascript"
    )
    
    return Div(container, init_script) 

Key improvements:

• Added language parameter with default value (javascript)
• Dynamic CSS class application using the specified language
• Added copy functionality with user feedback
• Better initialization handling for the Prism library

4. Fixed Widget Display in Locked Workflows

The workflow now properly displays widgets even when the workflow is locked (finalized):

# Check if workflow is finalized
finalize_data = pip.get_step_data(pipeline_id, "finalize", {})
if "finalized" in finalize_data and user_val:
    try:
        # Still show the widget but with a locked indicator
        table_widget = self.create_pandas_table(user_val)
        return Div(
            Card(
                H4(f"🔒 {step.show}"),
                table_widget
            ),
            Div(id=next_step_id, hx_get=f"/{app_name}/{next_step_id}", hx_trigger="load")
        )
    except Exception as e:
        logger.error(f"Error creating table widget in finalized view: {str(e)}")

This provides a better user experience as users can still see their visualizations even after the workflow is locked, rather than seeing a generic “content locked” message.

5. Consistent Widget Pattern Implementation

All widget steps now follow a consistent “Combined Step” pattern:

async def step_XX_submit(self, request):
    # 1. Get form data
    # 2. Validate input
    # 3. Save to state 
    # 4. Create widget
    # 5. Return response with widget

This consistent pattern makes the codebase more maintainable and understandable, with each step following the same logical flow.

6. Improved Error Handling

Error handling was enhanced throughout the widget creation process:

try:
    # Widget creation code
    return widget
except Exception as e:
    logger.error(f"Error creating widget: {str(e)}")
    return Div(NotStr(f"<div style='color: red;'>Error: {str(e)}</div>"), _raw=True)

This prevents workflow failures if a widget encounters errors, displaying user-friendly error messages instead.

7. Clean State Management

The update to step submission logic ensures proper state management:

# Save the value to state
await pip.update_step_state(pipeline_id, step_id, user_val, steps)

8. Enhanced HTMX Integration

The widgets now use HTMX triggers more effectively to initialize client-side libraries:

# Add HX-Trigger header to initialize Prism highlighting
response.headers["HX-Trigger"] = json.dumps({
    "initializePrism": {
        "targetId": widget_id
    }
})

This ensures reliable initialization of JavaScript libraries after HTMX content swaps.

Conclusion

These improvements have significantly enhanced the widget examples workflow, making it more robust, flexible, and user-friendly. The switch from Rich to Pandas for table rendering, combined with language detection for code syntax highlighting, has created a more powerful and intuitive system.

Most importantly, these widget examples now provide a solid foundation for creating educational workflows that teach users how to build their own Pipulate workflows, with proper code highlighting for various programming languages.

The consistent implementation patterns, improved error handling, and attention to detail in client-side integration make this a reliable template for future widget development in Pipulate.

AI Analysis

• Title/Headline Ideas:
  • Implementing Pipulate Widgets: Prism.js Syntax Highlighting and Pandas HTML Tables with AI Collaboration
  • Refining Web Widgets: Replacing Rich with Pandas to_html in a FastHTML/HTMX Workflow
  • AI-Assisted Development: Building Interactive Code and Table Widgets for Pipulate
  • Journal: Integrating Prism.js and Pandas to_html Widgets via FastHTML and HTMX
  • Practical Web Dev with AI: Syntax Highlighting and Pandas Table Implementation Notes
• Strengths:
  • Provides highly detailed, step-by-step technical implementation walkthroughs with code examples.
  • Captures a realistic, in-the-moment development process, including interactions with AI assistants.
  • Demonstrates practical application and integration of multiple modern web technologies (FastHTML, HTMX, Prism.js, Pandas).
  • Includes valuable commentary on the development process itself, like the “last 10%” problem and the role of AI.
  • The AI-generated summaries (like Claude’s final section) add structure and clarity to the technical steps taken.
• Weaknesses:
  • Mixes high-level reflection/philosophy with very specific, low-level implementation details, which can disrupt flow.
  • Relies heavily on prior context and dialogue history (references to “previous discussion,” “latest context”) making it potentially difficult to follow as a standalone piece without editing.
  • Contains some redundancy, particularly in explanations or code snippets related to widget structure or initialization as different steps are discussed.
  • The raw dialogue format (“Me:”, “Claude:”, “Gemini:”) is inherent to the log style but less ideal for a polished article.
• AI Opinion: This article offers significant value as a detailed technical log capturing a specific software development session focused on web widget implementation using Python, FastHTML, HTMX, and AI assistance. Its strength lies in the practical code examples and the authentic portrayal of integrating AI tools (Claude, Gemini) into the workflow for planning, coding, and documentation. While its clarity is high for readers familiar with the specific technologies and the project’s context, the mix of personal reflection, philosophical tangents, and raw dialogue format makes it less accessible to a general audience without significant editing. It serves as excellent source material for a more structured tutorial or case study on modern, AI-assisted web development practices.