Observable’s reactive JavaScript notebooks are uniquely suited for interactive data visualization, animation, learning, and experimentation.

## The shortest path from idea to live code

Observable Notebooks run in your browser, so you can immediately start building instead of setting up a local dev environment. Our notebooks were designed from the ground up to encourage collaboration and code reuse.

- **Literate programming:** Weave together Markdown, JavaScript, HTML, and SQL for expressive dynamic documents, charts, and apps.

- **Connect to any data:** Connect to any data source with ease — whether it’s a file, a database, or an API.

- **Built-in reactivity:** Cells re-run automatically as you make changes and interact with inputs, making code easier to understand.

- **Collaborate and share:** Accelerate your feedback loop with real-time multiplayer, comments, automatic version history, and git-style forking & merging to freely explore new ideas.

- **Batteries included:** Recommended open-source libraries such as D3, Observable Plot, and Observable Inputs are available by default. You can also import any library from npm or import cells from other notebooks.

- **Ready for production:** Conveniently embed notebooks as iframes, or for seamless integration, import notebooks into your app as reactive JavaScript modules.

## Features

Imports, Fork & merge, Embeds, Databases, Files, Inputs, Minimap, and AI Assist. Connect to BigQuery, Snowflake, DuckDB, PostgreSQL, and more. Add interactivity with drop-downs, sliders, checkboxes, and more.

The provided source material does not specify whether Notebooks can be self-hosted or list resource requirements. It states that Observable Notebooks run in your browser, and that production use is available as either an iframe or JavaScript.