abax

abax

A keyboard-first statistics and data-science workstation — an integrated environment for data work, built on a fast, scriptable spreadsheet. Load a dataset, explore it with 642 formula functions (statistics and distributions, financial, engineering, database, and RF/amateur-radio), run built-in analyses (regression, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation), reshape it with pivot/group-by and recode, visualize it, hand a selection off to pandas, and script the whole thing with Python macros — across CSV, Excel, Parquet, SQLite, JSON, R, and more.

It runs as a Qt desktop GUI (the default), a vim-style terminal UI, or a headless CLI. The core is pure-stdlib Python; every heavier capability is an optional dependency with a graceful fallback. When a behaviour is ambiguous, abax follows gnumeric.

Quick start

One isolated install with every optional feature:

pipx install "abax[all]"      # or: pip install "abax[all]" in a venv
abax                          # the desktop GUI
abax tui                      # the vim-style terminal UI (SSH-friendly)
abax view data.csv            # headless: print any spreadsheet as a table

Prefer to start small? Plain pip install abax gives the stdlib-only core, and on first launch the GUI shows a chooser where you pick optional features à la carte — nothing installs without your say-so. No Python? Every GitHub Release ships ready-to-run downloads: a Linux AppImage, a self-contained Windows build, a macOS app, and a tiny cross-platform abax.pyz zipapp. Full install details (extras, sizes, the Qt binding) live in Getting started.

Your first minute in the GUI:

• Arrow keys move (vim h j k l works too); just type into a cell and press Enter.
• Type =SUM(A1:A5) — anything starting with = computes, with autocomplete and argument hints as you go.
• Ctrl+Shift+P (or :) opens the command palette — every action lives there. F1 lists the shortcuts.
• Ctrl+S saves — .abax, .csv, .xlsx, .md, whatever the extension says.

Where next: tested, copy-paste examples for most of abax · the full online documentation.

A taste of the formula engine

=SUM(A1:A10)                      =VLOOKUP("banana", A1:B9, 2, FALSE)
=PERCENTILE(A1:A99, 0.9)          =IFS(s>=90,"A", s>=80,"B", TRUE,"F")
=SORT(UNIQUE(B:B))                =FILTER(A1:A9, B1:B9>0)

Array results spill across neighbouring cells Excel-style; errors are values (#DIV/0!, #REF!, #CIRC!, …), never crashes; LET and LAMBDA work. The complete function list is in the formula reference.

What's inside

Each guide below links to a tested, runnable example.

• Data & analysis — pivot/group-by, recode, column profiling, SQL over sheets, goal seek, conditional formatting, charts, and the pandas hand-off; the deep numeric stack adds hypothesis tests, regression, ML models, linear algebra, FFT/DSP, and ODE solvers — all with pure-stdlib fallbacks.
• File formats — open and save by extension: CSV, Excel, Parquet, SQLite, JSON/JSONL, Markdown, R, ODS, Jupyter .ipynb (lossless round-trip), and more; abax convert a.csv b.xlsx converts between any pair.
• RF & antenna engineering — 60+ RF functions, link budgets, a Smith chart, a thin-wire Method-of-Moments solver with NEC deck import/export, a satellite pass predictor, and POTA/SOTA activation logging.
• Macros & scripting — Python command macros and formula UDFs, macro recording, a live Python console, and a headless automation API; your code runs at a selectable isolation level, up to a strict OS sandbox.
• Jupyter — abax as a Jupyter kernel, rich sheet display, and an editable notebook widget.
• Built-in tools — HP-style RPN and TI graphing calculators, a dual-pane file manager, a budget wizard, and a LaTeX equation editor.
• Approachable UI — a command palette, twelve themes, screen-reader labels with optional spoken cell readout, and an OpenDyslexic font fetched on demand.

Develop

just install    # dev setup
just test       # tests (pass with zero optional deps)
just check      # lint + test + pyz + smoke

See docs/architecture.md for the layered design and its invariants. abax is free software, licensed GPL-3.0-or-later.