Embedding IPython REPL in Docker

Docker Hub
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Following this wonderful article, I’m trying to use the IPython REPL for debugging my Flask app. The idea is that you run import IPython; IPython.embed() at a point where you want to take a look around the state of your projects.

I’m developing my app in a Docker container to make it easier to run with other services. I tried inserting this line into a views.py function like so:

@page.route('/', methods=['GET', 'POST']) 
def index():
    form = SearchForm()
    if form.validate_on_submit():
        results = request.form.get('search')
        import IPython; IPython.embed()
        return render_template('page/index.html', form=form, results=results)
    else:
        flash(form.errors)

    return render_template('page/index.html', form=form)

When a valid POST request is made through the form, I see the following output from Docker:

website_1   | IPython 8.4.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.
website_1   | In [1]: Do you really want to exit ([y]/n)?

Then I see gunicorn logging the POST and GET requests. It would seem docker automatically shuts down IPython and continues to render_template.

I’m wondering if there is anyway to get this to work as an actual breakpoint as described in the article. I’d love to be able to take a look around my code this way. Thanks in advance for any advice.