Name cells to preserve position in app grid view

[areidmall]

Describe the bug

I have a grid style app view.
If I modify the order of cells by editing the .py file externally then I am forced to reorganise my app view.
Cell positions are no longer preserved.

On reload via --watch flag, can the x.grid.json > cells be recalculated? I'd imagine this is hard given the only data preserved is cell position, depending solely on order.

If a cell is named, could that be used as a field in the cells list? Using that as first preference to match cells then fall back on order?
Also helping in being able to adjust sizes to uniform in the grid view mode then knowing the cell name within the json file.

Better yet could the info from grid layout be embedded all within the .py notebook file?

I get that it's recommended to use the online editor, my preference is external editor. Love Marimo. Thanks

Will you submit a PR?

• Yes

Environment

Details

{
  "marimo": "0.23.8",
  "editable": false,
  "location": "C:/dev/notebooks/.venv/Lib/site-packages/marimo",
  "OS": "Windows",
  "OS Version": "11",
  "Processor": "Intel64 Family 6 Model 170 Stepping 4, GenuineIntel",
  "Python Version": "3.13.9",
  "Locale": "--",
  "Binaries": {
    "Browser": "149.0.7827.115",
    "Node": "--",
    "uv": "0.9.5 (d5f39331a 2025-10-21)"
  },
  "Dependencies": {
    "click": "8.3.1",
    "docutils": "0.22.4",
    "itsdangerous": "2.2.0",
    "jedi": "0.19.2",
    "markdown": "3.10.2",
    "narwhals": "2.16.0",
    "packaging": "26.0",
    "psutil": "7.2.2",
    "pygments": "2.19.2",
    "pymdown-extensions": "10.21.3",
    "pyyaml": "6.0.3",
    "starlette": "0.52.1",
    "tomlkit": "0.14.0",
    "typing-extensions": "4.15.0",
    "uvicorn": "0.40.0",
    "websockets": "16.0"
  },
  "Optional Dependencies": {
    "altair": "6.0.0",
    "anywidget": "0.9.21",
    "duckdb": "1.4.4",
    "loro": "1.10.3",
    "openai": "2.20.0",
    "pandas": "3.0.0",
    "polars": "1.38.1",
    "pyarrow": "23.0.0",
    "ruff": "0.15.0",
    "sqlglot": "28.10.1",
    "watchdog": "6.0.0"
  },
  "Experimental Flags": {}
}

Code to reproduce

No response

[mscolnick]

hey @areidmall, there is a current limitation right now that since the grid config is index-based and matches the py file, we have an expectation to use our editor for editing the config/notebook. we can potentially handle some fuzzy matching based off names or cell code. currently names is not required so not sure that would be the more reliable solution.