diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index be7ad4d..53f6419 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "JolinPluto"
 uuid = "5b0b4ef8-f4e6-4363-b674-3f031f7b9530"
 authors = ["Stephan Sahm <stephan.sahm@jolin.io> and contributors"]
-version = "0.1.52"
+version = "0.1.53"
 
 [deps]
 AWS = "fbe9abb3-538b-5e4e-ba9e-bc94f4f92ebc"
diff --git a/ext/PythonExt.jl b/ext/PythonExt.jl
index 5fe7cc0..31034a0 100644
--- a/ext/PythonExt.jl
+++ b/ext/PythonExt.jl
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 module PythonExt
 
-import JolinPluto, PythonCall
+import JolinPluto
+using PythonCall
 
 function JolinPluto.repeat_queueget(q)
     function _repeat_queueget()
@@ -13,4 +14,43 @@ function JolinPluto.repeat_queueget(q)
     JolinPluto.repeat_run(_repeat_queueget)
 end
 
+function JolinPluto.start_python_thread(func)
+    threading = @pyconst(pyimport("threading"))
+
+    if !JolinPluto.is_running_in_pluto_process()
+        # just start a plain thread without cleanup
+        stop_event = threading.Event()
+        threading.Thread(target=func, args=(stop_event,)).start()
+        return stop_event
+    end
+
+	firsttime = Main.PlutoRunner.currently_running_user_requested_run[]
+	cell_id = Main.PlutoRunner.currently_running_cell_id[]
+
+    if firsttime
+        stop_event_ref = Ref{Any}()
+        function cleanup_func()
+            isassigned(stop_event_ref) && stop_event_ref[].set()
+            nothing
+        end
+        Main.PlutoRunner.UseEffectCleanups.register_cleanup(cleanup_func, cell_id)
+        Main.PlutoRunner.UseEffectCleanups.register_cleanup(cell_id) do
+			haskey(JolinPluto.pluto_cell_cache, cell_id) && delete!(JolinPluto.pluto_cell_cache, cell_id)
+		end
+
+        function _start_python_thread(func)
+			# NOTE: no need to do exception handling as channel exceptions are thrown on take!
+			# if cell is reloaded we stop the underlying process so that the previous Channel
+			# can be garbage collected
+			cleanup_func()
+            stop_event_ref[] = threading.Event()
+			threading.Thread(target=func, args=(stop_event_ref[],)).start()
+            return stop_event_ref[]
+		end
+        JolinPluto.pluto_cell_cache[cell_id] = _start_python_thread
+        _start_python_thread(func)
+    else
+        JolinPluto.pluto_cell_cache[cell_id](func)
+    end
+end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/JolinPluto.jl b/src/JolinPluto.jl
index baf5bbc..a23ac9c 100644
--- a/src/JolinPluto.jl
+++ b/src/JolinPluto.jl
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ module JolinPluto
 export @get_jwt, @authorize_aws
 export get_jwt, authorize_aws
 export @repeat_take!, @repeat_at, @repeat_run, @Channel
-export repeat_take!, repeat_take, repeat_at, repeat_run, ChannelPluto, repeat_queueget, repeat_put_at, NoPut
+export repeat_take!, repeat_take, repeat_at, repeat_run, ChannelPluto, repeat_queueget, ChannelWithRepeatedFill, NoPut, start_python_thread
 export @output_below, @clipboard_image_to_clipboard_html
 export output_below, clipboard_image_to_clipboard_html, embedLargeHTML
 export Setter, @get, @cell_ids_create_wrapper, @cell_ids_push!
diff --git a/src/tasks.jl b/src/tasks.jl
index 0096f58..5d69d07 100644
--- a/src/tasks.jl
+++ b/src/tasks.jl
@@ -373,27 +373,7 @@ function repeat_at(
 	repeat_run(init, wait_and_repeatme)
 end
 
-repeat_at(nexttime; kwargs...) = repeat_at(() -> nothing, nexttime; kwargs...)
-
-
-
-struct NoPutType end
-const NoPut = NoPutType()
-
-"""
-	repeat_put_at(channel, (time) -> value, nexttime)
-
-Use this function from other languages which cannot safely run `put!(channel, value)`.
-This ensures that the put! is called from julia, circumventing segmentation faults
-because of async switch inside another-language-function.
-"""
-function repeat_put_at(channel, getvalue, nexttime; kwargs...)
-	repeat_at(nexttime; kwargs...) do time
-		value = getvalue(time)
-		value !== NoPut && put!(channel, value)
-		value
-	end
-end
+repeat_at(nexttime; kwargs...) = repeat_at((time) -> nothing, nexttime; kwargs...)
 
 
 """
@@ -495,6 +475,29 @@ function ChannelPluto(args...; kwargs...)
 end
 
 
+struct NoPutType end
+const NoPut = NoPutType()
+
+"""
+	ChannelWithRepeatedFill(get_next_value, 2; sleep_seconds=1.0)
+
+Creates a ChannelPluto which calls `get_next_value` repeatedly, interleaved by calls to
+sleep of the given time (defaults to 0 seconds sleep).
+"""
+function ChannelWithRepeatedFill(get_next_value, args...; sleep_seconds=0.0, kwargs...)
+	ChannelPluto(args...; kwargs...) do ch
+		while true
+			value = get_next_value()
+			value !== NoPut && put!(ch, value)
+			sleep(sleep_seconds)
+		end
+	end
+end
+
+
+# TODO create Pluto queue analog for Python which automatically kills the previous thread if one was started
+
+
 
 """
 	repeat_queueget(python_queue_threaded)
@@ -504,4 +507,15 @@ Outside pluto it will just wait for the first element to arrive and return that.
 
 IMPORTANT: This function is only available if `import PythonCall` was executed before `import JolinPluto`.
 """
-function repeat_queueget end
\ No newline at end of file
+function repeat_queueget end
+
+
+"""
+    start_python_thread(func)  # `func` gets stop_event as the only argument
+
+Like `threading.Thread(target=func, args=(threading.Event(),)).start()`, but such that the Event
+is integrated into Pluto and will be automatically set if the thread should stop itself.
+
+IMPORTANT: This function is only available if `import PythonCall` was executed before `import JolinPluto`.
+"""
+function start_python_thread end
\ No newline at end of file