# How to troubleshoot when matplotlib plots require pyplot.show()

**URL:** <https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-troubleshoot-when-matplotlib-plots-require-pyplot-show/37528>\
**Category:** Notebook\
**Created:** [August 12, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-troubleshoot-when-matplotlib-plots-require-pyplot-show/37528 "2025-08-12T17:06:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jason\_s](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/jason_s/32/6071_2.png) [@jason\_s](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/jason_s)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-troubleshoot-when-matplotlib-plots-require-pyplot-show/37528/1 "2025-08-12T17:06:26Z")

</div>

I’m used to sticking `%matplotlib inline` at the top of my notebooks.

One of my coworkers is finding that he has to use `plt.show()` to get a plot to appear, even if we evaluate `%matplotlib inline`.

Could anyone suggest things to check to see why this might be occurring?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fomightez](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.jupyter.org/fomightez/32/495_2.png) [@fomightez](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/fomightez)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-troubleshoot-when-matplotlib-plots-require-pyplot-show/37528/2 "2025-08-12T18:10:46Z")

</div>

You shouldn’t need _either_ of those two things these days with pure Matplotlib code and current vanilla Jupyter.  
To put this discussion on firmer footing, can we start with versions being considered and actual very basic plot code examples?

And if you want to jump ahead, I’m going to suggest comparing your results to what you see when you run the code in sessions after launches from the ‘`launch binder`’ badge [here](https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab). Or the badges [here](https://gist.github.com/jtpio).