Trinket.io Shut Down — Free Alternative for Teachers
Trinket.io shut down 31 Aug 2026. CS++ runs Python 3, Java and HTML/CSS/JS in your browser — turtle graphics, share links, free classrooms. No login to start.
Common questions
Did Trinket.io shut down?
Yes. Trinket.io shut down on 31 August 2026 after thirteen years online. Trinket announced the closure earlier in 2026 and did not publish a reason. Some articles say June 2026 — that was an earlier billing cutoff, not the shutdown date.
Can I get my trinkets, courses or assignments back?
No. Trinket’s export tools went offline with the rest of the service, and Trinket states that it is not able to retrieve content or accounts. The community-run fork at trinket.strivemath.org is a separate installation that does not hold trinket.io’s data and returns a 404 for original trinket IDs. Nobody can restore your material, CS++ included. The honest word for what comes next is rebuild.
Why did the trinket embedded in my website stop working?
Because the service it loaded from is gone. The old address still answers, so nothing looks broken to a link checker — the frame simply renders a notice saying the trinket is no longer available. That is why teachers keep discovering dead exercises live, in class, one page at a time. Go and check your pages now rather than in March.
Can I embed a runnable CS++ editor in my own page, the way I embedded a trinket?
No. Every CS++ page refuses to load inside another site’s frame, which is a deliberate defence against clickjacking. The replacement is a link: paste a CS++ share URL where the iframe used to be, and students click through to a full editable copy with no account. Inside Canvas or another LMS, an LTI 1.3 deep link is a better answer than the old embed ever was, because the work comes back as a real graded item.
Do my students need accounts to write and run code?
No. The Python, Java, Web and Blocks editors, and every game and tool, run with no account and no login. A free account adds cloud save across devices, uploads, and access to lessons, flashcards and one full mock exam per course. A classroom roster is what makes work persist and lets you see who is actually coding.
Does it support Python turtle graphics?
Yes. Writing import turtle opens a Graphics tab automatically and the drawing renders on a real canvas — no setup. The turtle module is patched well past the stock browser interpreter to match CPython, including shapesize, tilt, stamps, teleport, colormode(255), logo mode and the module-level Screen functions. Interactive turtle programs — onkey, ontimer and onclick games — run with the time limit lifted. There is no PNG export of the drawing yet.
Which Python libraries work, and which do not?
Working today: random, math, statistics, csv, io, string, re, datetime, collections, itertools, time, operator, sys, copy, bisect, types, unittest, textwrap, and turtle. Not supported: matplotlib, numpy, pandas and pygame, plus json, os and roughly 220 other standard-library modules that raise on import. The syntax level is Python 3.7, so there is no walrus operator, and writing files is not supported — build text in memory with io.StringIO. The reason is architectural: the interpreter is about 1.1 MB of plain JavaScript with no WebAssembly download, which is what makes it start instantly on an old Chromebook.
Can I share code with a link the way I shared a trinket?
Yes, and the recipient needs no account. One click copies a URL that reopens the program, already editable. Python and Java links carry your main file and are size-capped, so a very long program is better handed over as a saved project. The Web IDE carries the whole multi-file project in the link, and a free account lets you mint a link for projects of any size.