Microsoft has released version 2.1 beta of its open-source Python Tools for Visual Studio, adding support for additional Web frameworks, access to the tools in Visual Studio Express, and integration with Azure publishing.

Microsoft Developer Division corporate vice president S. Somasegar announced the release in a blog post, detailing how the release further equips Microsoft’s IDE with integrated IPython REPL support for smart history, shell commands and inline images. The PTVS 2.1 release also adds support for the Bottle and Flask Web frameworks, support for installing Visual Studio Express, and improvements to the Django template for IntelliSense.

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According to Somasegar, Microsoft is also working on adding support for remote debugging for Azure Web Sites, which is expected to be available in PTVS 2.1 beta 2 in the near future.

Microsoft released the Python tools under the Apache 2.0 open-source license, and will accept contributions from the developer community.

The PTVS 2.1 beta code is available on CodePlex.