PlutoLauncher

Revised 2026-06-30

A couple convenience scripts to more easily launch Pluto, which is a reactive notebook environment for Julia.

These scripts will make sure Julia is up to date, make sure Pluto is installed and up to date, then launch Pluto in the same folder the scripts are in. (Or in the folder specified in the script, see KDE Integration on Linux).

A couple notes on usage:

• Pluto will take longer to launch the first time, and whenever there is a julia update, due to the time taken to download and install packages. Give it a minute or so and it'll launch.
• Pluto will stay open even when your browser window is closed. To stop Pluto and free up resources, go to the terminal or powershell window and hit Ctrl+c, wait for the prompt to appear, then close the window.

For Windows Users

Installation

1. Install Julia from the Microsoft Store or using the installer from their website
2. Download PlutoLauncher.ps1 and PlutoLauncher.jl
3. Put both files in the folder you want to launch Pluto in
4. Open PowerShell as administrator and run Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned to allow yourself to run scripts.

Starting Pluto

1. Right click on PlutoLauncher.ps1
2. Click Run in PowerShell
3. Pluto will launch in your web browser!

Closing Pluto

1. Close the browser tab with Pluto in it.
2. Hit Ctrl+c in the Powershell window, wait for the prompt to appear, then close the window.

For Linux Users

Installation

1. Install Julia by running curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh in your terminal, or according to the latest instructions on their website
2. Download PlutoLauncher.sh and PlutoLauncher.jl
3. Put both files in the folder you want to launch Pluto in
4. Open your terminal in that folder and run chmod +x PlutoLauncher.sh to make the file executable

Starting Pluto

1. Right click on PlutoLauncher.sh
2. Click Run in Terminal or equivalent.
3. Pluto will launch in your web browser!

Closing Pluto

1. Close the browser tab with Pluto in it.
2. Hit Ctrl+c in your terminal window, wait for the prompt to appear, then close the window.

KDE Integration on Linux

If you want to be able to launch Pluto like an app from the menu:

Installation

1. Install Julia by running curl -fsSL https://install.julialang.org | sh in your terminal, or according to the latest instructions on their website
2. Download a zip of the repository by clicking the green Code button, then Download ZIP. Extract the zip file (right click on it, Extract, Extract here), and move the .PlutoLauncher folder to your home folder. Since it starts with a dot it will be a hidden folder, so you can use Ctrl+h to view hidden files, so you can see it and move it around
3. Go into the .PlutoLauncher folder, open PlutoLauncherDE.jl in a text editor, and edit the string assigned to launch_directory to the working folder you want Pluto to launch in. By default, it's ~/Documents
4. Open the terminal in the .PlutoLauncher folder and run chmod +x PlutoLauncherDE.sh to make the file executable
5. Right click on the KDE Application Launcher Icon (usually a K, or an icon for your linux distro, at the beginning of the taskbar)
6. Click Edit Applications
7. Go to New, then New Item
8. Name the item something sensible, like Pluto Launcher
9. Put the absolute path to PlutoLauncherDE.sh (inside .PlutoLauncher) under Program. It should look something like /home/your_username/.PlutoLauncher/PlutoLauncherDE.sh
10. Click the pencil icon to the right of the name field to add an icon. Click browse in the bottom left, and choose pluto_icon.svg in ~/.PlutoLauncher
11. Go to advanced, and check Run in terminal
12. Hit Save, then close the KDE Menu Editor
13. Restart your computer so the KDE Menu can update properly.

These steps are given for KDE. If you use a different desktop environment, you can use the same files, but the steps to create a menu entry for the Pluto Launcher will be different.