juxt

juxt is a fast desktop tool for visually comparing plots across multiple parameter axes. Define axes (model, date, data source, ...) and flip through the resulting image hypercube with keyboard navigation.

juxt comes from juxtapose — placing things side by side to compare. That's the whole idea: flip through congruent plots fast enough to visually identify differences.

Install

pip install juxt

For SSH remote loading:

pip install juxt[ssh]

Quick start

juxt accepts several forms as its first argument:

juxt /path/to/plots/                        # auto-detect axes from a directory of images
juxt "plots/{sensor}_{date}.png"            # explicit local template
juxt myhost:/path/to/plots/                 # remote directory over SSH
juxt "myhost:/path/{sensor}_{date}.png"     # remote template over SSH
juxt config.yaml                            # explicit config file

For directory and remote-directory modes, filenames are split on separators (_ and / by default) and any position with more than one distinct value becomes an axis. You'll be prompted to name the axes on first run; use -a to skip.

Config

Auto-discover mode

Point juxt at a directory and it figures out the axes from the filenames:

juxt /path/to/plots/

Or with an explicit config:

discover:
  directory: plots/
  separator: "_"

Template mode

For full control, define the template and axes explicitly:

template: "plots/{sensor}_{date}_{overpass}_{source}.png"
axes:
  sensor:   [ASCAT, SMAP, SMOS]
  date:     [2024-03-15, 2024-03-16]
  overpass: [AM, PM]
  source:   [L2, L3]
keys:
  s: sensor
  d: date
  o: overpass
  r: source

Remote mode (SSH)

Images are downloaded over SFTP at startup and cached locally; navigation afterwards is identical to local use. Auth uses your SSH agent or ~/.ssh/config key, with a password fallback.

remote: myhost               # or user@myhost, or user@myhost:port
template: "/data/plots/{sensor}_{date}.png"
axes:
  sensor: [ASCAT, SMAP]
  date:   [2024-03-15, 2024-03-16]

Or pass the remote path directly on the command line — juxt will detect axes from the remote filenames automatically:

juxt myhost:/data/plots/

Requires the SSH extra: pip install juxt[ssh]

Navigation

Default mode is tap. Each axis is assigned one letter key — tap it to step forward, hold Shift to step backward. Every navigation is a single keypress, no modifiers, no menus.

Key	Action
← / →	cycle the active axis
↑ / ↓	cycle the secondary axis
lowercase letter	navigate +1 on that axis
uppercase letter	navigate −1 on that axis
Ctrl+letter	open value picker for that axis
Space	toggle between current and previous position
Home / End	jump to first / last value
1–9	jump to the Nth value

Use :mode tap|seek|pin in the command bar to switch navigation modes.

Command mode

Press : to open the command bar (vim-style). Tab-completion narrows candidates as you type.

Command	Action
:q	quit
:fit	fit image to window
:fit height / :fit width	fit to height or width
:zoom N	set zoom to N%
:fullscreen	toggle fullscreen
:mode tap|seek|pin	switch navigation mode
:grid [AXIS]	tile an axis into a grid of viewports
:grid AXIS VAL …	grid with a value subset
:grid-layout NxM	change grid layout without exiting
:ungrid	return to single-image view
:grid-sharex / :grid-sharey	toggle synchronized pan/zoom

Controls

Zoom

Key	Action
double-click	fit image to window
0	reset zoom to 100%
scroll wheel	step forward / backward on active axis
Shift + scroll wheel	step backward / forward on active axis
Ctrl + scroll wheel	zoom (anchored under cursor)
drag	pan

View

Key	Action
Enter	toggle fullscreen
Ctrl+H	toggle status bar