Feature request: simpler access to mo.app_meta().mode

[fdcastel]

It would be great to provide a simpler way to access mo.app_meta().mode.

Maybe mo.mode?

This information is very useful, and I’ve seen it referenced in several videos, such as this one.

[manzt]

Thanks for the suggestion! I can see the appeal of a shorter path to check the mode.

That said, mo.app_meta() intentionally groups related runtime metadata together (mode, theme, and request info). This helps with discoverability since users can explore one object to find all app-level metadata.

Adding mo.mode as an alias would mean the same info is accessible via two different paths, which we'd want a strong reason to do. It might also raise the question of whether we'd do the same for mo.theme, etc.

I'm curious, is the main friction the extra characters, or something else?

[fdcastel]

No. It just felt like a simpler way to do something that might be used a lot.

But you’re right. I get your point.

I’ve only just discovered the project (fantastic, by the way!), and I’m exploring it to port several scripts to marimo. So I may be a bit biased since I’ll use this feature a lot 😄

[akshayka]

@fdcastel You can use mo.running_in_notebook(): https://docs.marimo.io/api/miscellaneous/?h=running_in#marimo.running_in_notebook

[fdcastel]

Thanks for the tip, @akshayka!!!

Now if only we had a mo.running_in_script() too… 😉