How to execute a server side script/application from a webapp

So I'm writing a webapp for editing config files.

I already have a suite of python programs that can be adapted to this need on the server.

So my question is how could I execute these from the webpage apache is serving up?

I have already looked into pico but lack of examples and documentation meant I couldn't get even their hello world working.

Bonus points if I don't have to have a web-server like node.js/pico listening 24/7 (this app is for silly windows admins who don't like to ssh into machines)