GSoC 2026: Scaling Documentation Interactivity via JupyterLite

[natinew77-creator]

This issue tracks my GSoC 2026 project: adding "Try in Browser" interactivity to the MNE-Python documentation using JupyterLite.

The work began as a single branch (#13925) and was split into five reviewable PRs. All five are merged as of 15 September 2026.

Pull requests

PR	What it does	Status
#14128	mne.datasets.lite_data, a small dataset so the browser tutorials load quickly	Merged
#14135	Builds the dev MNE wheel that JupyterLite installs	Merged
#14144	A vtk.js backend for MNE's 3D renderer, since VTK has no WebAssembly build	Merged
#14150	The notebook setup cell: installs MNE into the Pyodide kernel and fetches datasets over HTTP	Merged
#14157	Wires the JupyterLite build into the docs	Merged

Also part of the work:

• ENH: JupyterLite integration for the documentation #13925: the original combined branch, superseded by the split and now closed
• ENH: add a xeus-python kernel for the JupyterLite docs #14093: a xeus-python kernel, explored and closed in favour of Pyodide
• Create lite-data dataset for JupyterLite #14041: the lite-data dataset request, closed once the dataset was hosted

Roadmap

• add basic JupyterLite GitHub Actions workflow (ENH: JupyterLite integration for the documentation #13925)
• hook up sphinx-gallery to build the JupyterLite site (ENH: JupyterLite integration for the documentation #13925)
• Evaluate the xeus-python backend vs pyodide (ENH: add a xeus-python kernel for the JupyterLite docs #14093)
• figure out wasm wheel patches for any tricky MNE dependencies (ENH: build the dev MNE wheel for JupyterLite (JupyterLite split 2/5) #14135)
• add a lite-data dataset fetcher (mne.datasets.lite_data) to slim the build downloads (ENH: add the lite_data dataset (JupyterLite split 1/5) #14128)
• test core imports and basic plotting inside the browser
• get 3D rendering working in the browser outputs (ENH: add a vtk.js backend for MNE's 3D renderer (JupyterLite split 3/5) #14144)
• update a few high-priority tutorials to use the new interactive format (ENH: wire the JupyterLite build into the docs (JupyterLite split 5/5) #14157)
• wrap up docs and final CI polish

[teonbrooks]

@teonbrooks will look into the suggested interactive 3d plots for MNE and report back on what works well in Jupyterlite

[teonbrooks]

let's add a new step to the build environment to include all the python packages directly so that we don't have to micropip install them for the examples to work. it would be much better to just have the import statements.

[teonbrooks]

@natinew77-creator, feel free to update your tracking issue here and close out your original PR #13925 :)