Matplotlib by default only allows you to export your figures in formats that are used for publishing (e.g., a .pgf file, a resterized .png file, etc.). MATLAB allows you to save files in a .fig format which allows you to change the plot very easily (say, to fix a typo on an axis label, or to change the colorscheme). mplfig strives to bring this functionality to matplotlib. With mplfig, you can save your matplotlib files and load them right back up in another python script.

First, create a figure and save with it mplfig.

import mplfig
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

xs = list(range(10))
ys = list(map(lambda x: x**2, xs))

plt.plot(xs, ys)
mplfig.save_figure(plt.gcf(), 'myfig.mplpkl')

plt.show()

Next, load it back up and change the figure!

import mplfig
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

fig = mplfig.load_figure('myfig.mplpkl') # Load the saved figure

axes = fig.get_axes()
axes[0].set_xlabel('$x$') # Add an x label
axes[0].set_ylabel('$y = x^2$') # Add a y label
axes[0].lines[0].set_marker('o') # Add a circle marker

plt.show()

mplfig is on PyPI

pip3 install -U mplfig