Running interactive Python script through Automator.

Automator has a Text: Ask for Text action that takes a single input from a pop-up dialog and then passes that to the next action. You just access that user text string from your Python sys.argv[1:] arguments.

A little more advanced is to ask Python to run an AppleScript HERE document in a subprocess and capture the user input from that display dialog panel. But if you are seeking a single user input, the Automator Ask for Text is simpler to implement.

Python's Idle is useful for debugging Python code before it goes into an Automator Run Shell Script, but otherwise has nothing to do with Automator behavior.

When you run Python within an Automator Run Shell Script, its only means to interactively communicate with a user is via a graphical interface that it controls, or receiving command line arguments via the pass input : as arguments configuration in the Run Shell Script that are sys.argv[1:] arguments passed into it. That AppleScript display dialog, being ancient technology, can only prompt for one user input per dialog instance, or multiple, if you instruct the user to enter multiple answers punctuated by a character that Python can split into an array of user inputs.

It is late, I will see if I can post an example tomorrow.

Here is an example of passing a value to an AppleScript, and retrieving values from user input via a Python3 subprocess invocation:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import subprocess
import sys
import os
import re

try:
    from subprocess import DEVNULL   # python3
except ImportError:
    DEVNULL = open(os.devnull, 'wb') # python2

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding: utf-8

import os
import sys
import subprocess

ascript = '''
use scripting additions
on run argv

    display dialog "current directory location is: " & (item 1 of argv) with title "Passed argument"

    try
        set query to text returned of (display dialog "Enter your name, rank, and serial number each separated by a single semi-colon (;) : " default answer "")
    on error -128
        return "Cancel"
    end try
    if not query = "" then
     return query
    else
        return "Invalid User Input"
    end if
end run
'''


def main():
    os.chdir(os.path.dirname(__file__))
    thisdir = os.getcwd()
    try:
        proc = subprocess.check_output(['osascript', '-e', ascript, thisdir],
                                       shell=False, stderr=DEVNULL)

        if 'Cancel' in proc.decode('utf-8'):  # User pressed Cancel button
            sys.exit(proc.decode('utf-8'))
        elif 'Invalid User Input' in proc.decode('utf-8'):
            sys.exit(proc.decode('utf-8'))
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print('Python error: [%d]\n%s\n'.format(e.returncode, e.output))
    
    # split user input on semi-colon
    details = proc.decode('utf-8').split(';')

    if not details:
        print("empty user input")
    elif len(details) == 3:
        print("{}\t{}\t{}".format(*details))
    else:
        print("User did not input all three requests")
   

if __name__ == '__main__':
    sys.exit(main())

Errata:

Remove this block of code:

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding: utf-8

import os
import sys
import subprocess

and remove:

import re