Installation

xtralab is on PyPI. It requires Python 3.10 or newer. The desktop app includes its own Python runtime and does not need either of the methods on this page.

Install with pip

pip install xtralab
xtralab

The xtralab command starts JupyterLab with the settings folder of xtralab. jupyter lab also works, with the default Jupyter settings folder.

Install with uv

Method	Use it to
uvx	Run xtralab in any folder, without installing it.
uv tool install	Make the xtralab command available in all shells.
uv add	Add xtralab to the dependencies of a project.

Run without installing

uvx xtralab

uv creates a cached environment for xtralab on the first run and uses it again on the next runs. xtralab starts in the current folder.

To start a server for a folder in the background, for example from a coding agent, use open:

uvx xtralab open path/to/folder

The command prints the URL of the server, reuses a server that already serves the folder, and returns. The server opens a browser tab and continues to run after the terminal closes. uvx xtralab stop path/to/folder stops it, uvx xtralab list shows the running xtralab servers, and uvx xtralab stop --all stops all of them. The agent skills use these commands.

Install as a tool

uv tool install xtralab

Add to a project

uv add xtralab
uv run xtralab

Verify the installation

1. Start JupyterLab.

2. Select the menu button (☰) at the left of the top bar, then Help → About xtralab.

   The dialog shows the xtralab version and the JupyterLab version.

Upgrade

Installed with	Command
pip	pip install --upgrade xtralab
uvx	uvx xtralab@latest
uv tool install	uv tool upgrade xtralab
uv add	uv sync --upgrade-package xtralab

Settings folder

The xtralab command stores the JupyterLab settings, the workspaces, and the Jupyter server configuration in the folder of xtralab, the same folder as the desktop app. It does not read ~/.jupyter. Kernels and other Jupyter data stay in the default Jupyter folders.

System	Folder
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/xtralab/jupyter/config
Linux	~/.config/xtralab/jupyter/config
Windows	%APPDATA%\xtralab\jupyter\config

xtralab paths prints the settings folder. To use a different folder, set the JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR environment variable before you start xtralab.

Included packages

xtralab is a meta-package. It installs these packages and adds its own JupyterLab extension. See pyproject.toml for the versions.

Package	Provides
ajlab	The agent-ready JupyterLab base
jupyterlab	JupyterLab 4.6 or newer
jupyterlab-git	The Git panel and Git commands
jupyterlab-lsp, ty	Language server support and a Python language server
jupyterlab-quickopen	The file index of the omnibox
jupyterlab-search-replace	Search and replace in all files of the project
jupyterlab-vim	Vim key bindings, disabled by default
jupyter-server-mcp, jupyterlab-commands-toolkit	The MCP server and its tools
Pierre, Cursor, Day, and Night themes	Light and dark themes