Developing with Streamlit

This is a routing skill that directs you to specialized references for Streamlit development.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when the user's request involves:

• Creating a new Streamlit app
• Editing or modifying an existing Streamlit app
• Debugging Streamlit issues (errors, session state bugs, performance problems)
• Beautifying or improving the visual design of a Streamlit app
• Optimizing Streamlit performance (caching, fragments, reruns)
• Building and running Streamlit apps
• Styling widgets (button colors, backgrounds, CSS customization)
• Any question about Streamlit widgets, layouts, or components

Trigger phrases: "streamlit", "st.", "dashboard", "app.py", "beautify app", "make it look better", "style", "CSS", "color", "background", "theme", "button", "slow rerun", "session state", "performance", "faster", "cache"

Workflow

Step 1: Locate the Streamlit source code
    ↓
Step 2: Identify task type and load appropriate reference(s)
    ↓
Step 3: Apply guidance from reference to edit code
    ↓
Step 4: Check if app is running and offer to run it

Step 1: Locate the Streamlit Source Code (if needed)

Goal: Identify the app file(s) to edit. Skip this step if already clear from context.

When to skip:

• User mentioned a specific file path (e.g., "edit src/app.py")
• User has file(s) already in conversation context
• Working directory has an obvious single entry point (app.py, streamlit_app.py)

When to search:

• User says "my streamlit app" without specifying which file
• Multiple Python files exist and it's unclear which is the entry point

If searching is needed:

1. Quick scan for Streamlit files:

   bashCopy

   grep -rl 'import streamlit\|from streamlit' --include='*.py' . 2>/dev/null | head -10
   

2. Apply entry point heuristics (in priority order):

   • streamlit_app.py at root → this is the entry point (canonical name)
   • app.py at root → likely entry point
   • File using st.navigation → entry point for multi-page apps
   • Single .py file at root with streamlit import → entry point
   • Files in pages/ or app_pages/ subdirectory → NOT entry points (these are sub-pages)

3. If entry point is obvious → use it, no confirmation needed

   Example: Found streamlit_app.py and pages/metrics.py → use streamlit_app.py

4. Only ask if genuinely ambiguous (e.g., multiple root-level candidates, none named streamlit_app.py):

   Copy

   Found multiple potential entry points:
   - dashboard.py
   - main.py
   
   Which is your main app?
   

Output: Path to the main Streamlit source file(s)

Step 2: Identify Task Type and Route to Reference

Goal: Determine what the user needs and load the appropriate guidance.

IMPORTANT — use_container_width is deprecated. Never add use_container_width to new code. Streamlit elements now stretch to fill their container by default. Use width="stretch" or width="content" instead. Remove use_container_width when you encounter it.

Use this routing table to select reference(s). Always read the reference file before making changes.

All file paths below are relative to this skill's directory (streamlit/.agents/skills/developing-with-streamlit/).

Fallback — "this widget doesn't exist in Streamlit":

If the user asks for a UI element or interaction that has never been part of Streamlit's API and cannot be built with any combination of native widgets (e.g., drag-and-drop, canvas drawing, custom interactive visualizations), route to the CCv2 reference (references/custom-components-v2.md). Do not route to CCv2 for features that exist in newer Streamlit versions (e.g., st.connection, st.segmented_control) — suggest upgrading instead.

Common combinations:

For beautifying/improving an app, read in order:

1. references/design.md
2. references/layouts.md
3. references/selection-widgets.md

For building a dashboard, read:

1. references/dashboards.md
2. references/data-display.md

IMPORTANT - Use templates:

When creating a new dashboard app, prefer starting from a template in assets/templates/apps/:

• If a template closely matches the request, copy it and adapt:
  • dashboard-metrics — KPI cards with time-series charts
  • dashboard-companies — company/entity comparison
  • dashboard-compute — resource/credit monitoring
  • dashboard-feature-usage — feature adoption tracking
  • dashboard-seattle-weather — public dataset exploration
  • dashboard-stock-peers — financial peer analysis
• If no template is a close match, start from scratch but borrow relevant patterns from the templates (e.g., caching with @st.cache_data, filter_by_time_range(), st.set_page_config(), chart utilities, layout structure)
• See assets/templates/apps/README.md for template descriptions

When editing an existing app, use templates as reference for best practices:

• Check assets/templates/apps/ for caching patterns, layout structure, and data-loading patterns
• Apply consistent patterns from templates to improve the existing code

When applying a custom theme, use a config from assets/templates/themes/configs/:

• Copy one config file (dracula, financial-dashboard, fluent, jupyter, material-ui, minimal, nord, one-dark-pro, shadcn, solarized-light, ubuntu, vscode) to the app's .streamlit/config.toml
• Themes include custom fonts via Google Fonts
• See assets/templates/themes/README.md for the theme list

For performance optimization, read:

1. references/performance.md

Step 3: Apply Guidance to Edit Code

Goal: Make changes to the Streamlit app following reference best practices.

Actions:

1. Apply the patterns and recommendations from the loaded reference(s)
2. Make edits to the source file(s) identified in Step 1
3. Preserve existing functionality while adding improvements

Step 4: Check Running Apps and Offer to Run

Goal: Help the user see their changes by checking if their app is running.

Actions:

1. Check for running Streamlit apps on ports 850*:

   bashCopy

   lsof -nP -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN 2>/dev/null | grep -i python | awk '{print $2, $9}' | grep ':85' || echo "No Streamlit apps detected on ports 850*"
   

2. Present findings to user:

   If app is running:

   Copy

   Found Streamlit app running:
   - PID: [pid] at http://localhost:[port]
   
   Your changes should be visible after a page refresh (Streamlit hot-reloads on file save).
   

   If no app is running:

   Copy

   No Streamlit app detected on ports 850*.
   
   Would you like me to run the app? I can start it with:
     streamlit run [app_file.py]
   

3. If user wants to run the app, start it:

   bashCopy

   streamlit run [path/to/app.py] --server.port 8501
   

Stopping Points

• Step 2: If multiple references seem relevant, ask user which aspect to focus on first
• Step 4: Ask before starting the Streamlit app

Resources

• Streamlit API Reference
• Streamlit Gallery