Alternatives to Trinket.io for Teaching GlowScript / VPython

[Ian Page]

Hello everyone,

I hope this message finds you well.

I’ve recently learned that Trinket.io will be ending its services in 2026. I’ve relied quite heavily on Trinket for a course I teach, as it’s been a great platform for delivering content, allowing students to practice GlowScript/VPython coding, and submitting assignments in a relatively seamless way.

I’m starting to think ahead and would really appreciate hearing what alternatives others in this community are using (or considering). In particular, I’m interested in platforms that work well for:

• Hosting instructional content alongside code

• Letting students easily run and edit GlowScript/VPython in the browser

• Collecting or sharing student work for assessment or feedback

If you’ve already made a transition, experimented with other tools, or have suggestions (even partial solutions that work well in combination), I’d love to hear your experiences.

Thanks very much in advance for your insights, and for all the work this community does to support computational physics education.

Best regards,
Ian Page

[Paul Price]

Hi Ian,

I don’t have any answers yet but I have a few thoughts that perhaps the community can elaborate on.

1) The Trinket Code is going open source.  I wonder if a version of webvpython.org can be created that uses the trinket shell.  There is tremendous benefit to having a coding window that can be made available in any browser, LMS, etc….  but it will need some interpreting in the backgound

2) The Trinket course functionality is especially valuable - I am wondering if that code base will be released as part of the open source.  If so perhaps we can keep that part alive as the challenge of webvpython.org is building a site that incorporates text and code as well as having a mechanism for collection of programs, feedback, and assessment.

I know I don’t have answers here but I am confident this group can forge a path forward!

Paul

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_______________________

Paul D. Price

Chemistry and Physics Educator and Consultant

tvs...@sbcglobal.net

[Steve Spicklemire]

Hi Folks,

I can say that we’ll be looking into this. We also rely on trinket for many things! Once a clear path emerges we can post some kind of roadmap so you know what’s coming.

I’m not sure how exactly long that will take, but just know that the developers are aware, and keenly interested in identifying a path forward.

take care,
-steve

> On Jan 22, 2026, at 12:44 AM, Paul Price <tvs...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Ian,
>
> I don’t have any answers yet but I have a few thoughts that perhaps the community can elaborate on.
>
> 1) The Trinket Code is going open source. I wonder if a version of webvpython.org can be created that uses the trinket shell. There is tremendous benefit to having a coding window that can be made available in any browser, LMS, etc…. but it will need some interpreting in the backgound
>
> 2) The Trinket course functionality is especially valuable - I am wondering if that code base will be released as part of the open source. If so perhaps we can keep that part alive as the challenge of webvpython.org is building a site that incorporates text and code as well as having a mechanism for collection of programs, feedback, and assessment.
>
> I know I don’t have answers here but I am confident this group can forge a path forward!
>
> Paul
>
>> On Jan 21, 2026, at 23:27, 'Ian Page' via Glowscript Users <glowscri...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>> I hope this message finds you well.
>> I’ve recently learned that Trinket.io will be ending its services in 2026. I’ve relied quite heavily on Trinket for a course I teach, as it’s been a great platform for delivering content, allowing students to practice GlowScript/VPython coding, and submitting assignments in a relatively seamless way.
>> I’m starting to think ahead and would really appreciate hearing what alternatives others in this community are using (or considering). In particular, I’m interested in platforms that work well for:
>> • Hosting instructional content alongside code
>> • Letting students easily run and edit GlowScript/VPython in the browser
>> • Collecting or sharing student work for assessment or feedback
>> If you’ve already made a transition, experimented with other tools, or have suggestions (even partial solutions that work well in combination), I’d love to hear your experiences.
>> Thanks very much in advance for your insights, and for all the work this community does to support computational physics education.
>> Best regards,
>> Ian Page
>>

>> CONFIDENTIALITY CAUTION: This message is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and contains information that is privileged and confidential. If you, the reader of this message, are not the intended recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by return email and delete the original message. Unless it relates to the official business of Singapore American School, any opinions or matters expressed in this message are those of the individual sender.
>>
>> --
>>
>> ---
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Glowscript Users" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to glowscript-use...@googlegroups.com.
>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/glowscript-users/2bf09f20-1442-4191-acd9-d65f393a3146n%40googlegroups.com.
>
>
>
> _______________________
> Paul D. Price
> Chemistry and Physics Educator and Consultant
> tvs...@sbcglobal.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Glowscript Users" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to glowscript-use...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/glowscript-users/34F2E1BC-D4BC-46ED-8C50-B4114308DF1B%40sbcglobal.net.

[Nathaniel Cunningham]

Exciting recent development at Trinket.io's "Update about the future of Trinket" page:

"A community member at Strive Math is running a hosted version of the open source software at trinket.strivemath.org. It is independently operated and not affiliated with or supported by Trinket, so we cannot guarantee its availability or reliability—but it may be useful if you'd like to keep using a Trinket-style platform."

Looks like it's a fully-capable clone of trinket.io, and fully free even for hosting "courses"!

I used trinket.io's export capability to download a .zip of all my trinkets, and uploaded it to the new strivemath verion of trinket. It seems to have succeeded with lots of trinkets, but not with the courses, so I will have to be sure to download more trinket.io content manually. 

-- Nathaniel Cunningham

Nebraska Wesleyan University

[Michael Burns-Kaurin]

This is good news.  When I exported then imported, however, my folders got lost--everything ended up in one place.  Do you know a way to preserve folder structure?

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/glowscript-users/a613cdba-fe65-42d2-87c1-3f6c56155d1en%40googlegroups.com.

[Steve Spicklemire]

Thanks for these reports!

A few updates:

There are now two other trinket servers available for users.

1) If you’re teaching with Matter and Interactions (M&I) you can get access through our instructor resources site:

https://instructormi.org/start

and use the trinket server here:

https://trinket.matterandinteractions.org/

This server *only* support WebVPython trinkets.

There is an official announcement here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Km-LWmD-8VxtztXBSynsiiukzOZymVT1OL7d0eII2o/edit?usp=sharing

2) If you’re not teaching with M&I, but you want to use trinket to incorporate computation in your physics classes, another option is the new PICUP server:

https://trinket.gopicup.org/

This server supports WebVPython, Python3, HTML, etc.

Both of these servers have incorporated the ability to import folders and courses from trinket.io <http://trinket.io/> (so they won’t suffer from the issue Michael experienced). It’s possible the trinket.strivemath.org <http://trinket.strivemath.org/> folks will ultimately merge that code as well, but for now they apparently haven’t.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about these developments.

take care,
-steve

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/glowscript-users/CAJ5waeNni1aDqzazwbLtsChLf3_180DxUO_%2B52C83UQTPg30ww%40mail.gmail.com.

[Michael Burns-Kaurin]

What is the process for keeping folder structure for picup?  I don't see, and I don't want to import without knowing, since that could be messy

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/glowscript-users/E4DA4FF4-F9ED-4686-9275-0ECCFE3CDC34%40gmail.com.

[Steve Spicklemire]

As long as you exported your trinkets after July 7 from trinket.io, it should be automatic.

thanks,

-steve

On Jul 16, 2026, at 10:38 AM, Michael Burns-Kaurin <burnsk...@gmail.com> wrote: