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JupyterLab
JupyterLab · founded 2014
What it is
JupyterLab is a free, web-based development environment for interactive work with notebooks, code, and data. Its workspace can bring notebooks, text editors, terminals, and custom components together in tabs and split panes. Code consoles offer interactive scratchpads, while kernel-backed documents can run code in files such as Markdown, Python, R, and LaTeX. It supports the .ipynb notebook format as well as formats including images, CSV, JSON, HTML, and PDF. Extensions can add themes, viewers, editors, output renderers, menus, shortcuts, and settings. Real-time collaboration is available through the jupyter_collaboration extension. JupyterLab works with visualization libraries such as matplotlib and Plotly, though interactive plots or widgets may need extra packages. It is intended for exploratory computing in areas including data science, scientific computing, computational journalism, and machine learning. The open-source software is free under a modified BSD license and can be installed locally with pip; a Homebrew command is also provided for macOS and Linux. Extensions can execute code, so the documentation advises choosing trusted ones.
For and against
For
- Free, open-source software under a modified BSD license.
- Supports .ipynb notebooks and many other formats.
- Real-time collaboration can be enabled by extension.
- Works with matplotlib and Plotly.
Against
- Extensions can execute arbitrary code.
- Interactive plots or widgets may require additional packages.
- Jupyter does not provide the software as a service.
The verdict
JupyterLab brings notebooks, code, data, and other work areas into one interactive environment. Extension capabilities are broad, but extensions can run code and should be selected with care.
Who it suits
JupyterLab suits people working with notebooks and code in exploratory computing, including data science, scientific computing, computational journalism, and machine learning. It is available for Linux, macOS, self-hosted use, and web.
Plans and prices
JupyterLab
Open-source software · self-hosted installation via pip, conda, mamba or Homebrew
Read 15 Oct 2026 · jupyter.org
On the record
- API
- A public API is documented for building npm-based JupyterLab extensions and application components.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Browser support
- The documentation lists current Firefox, Chrome and Safari versions as known working browsers.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome extension capability
- The Jupyter Notebook Viewer extension renders local and remote .ipynb files and offers themes, auto-reload, syntax highlighting, table of contents and KaTeX/MathJax.chromewebstore.google.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Collaboration
- Real-time collaboration can be activated by installing the jupyter_collaboration extension.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 1 Oct 2026
- Collaboration integration
- The Content Providers API introduced in JupyterLab 4.4 enables jupyter-collaboration to provide real-time editing without changing the drive prefix.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company mission
- LinkedIn describes Project Jupyter as an open-source project for interactive and exploratory computing supporting Python, Julia, R and other languages.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company type
- LinkedIn identifies Project Jupyter as a nonprofit software-development organization founded in 2014 with 11–50 employees.linkedin.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Debugger
- JupyterLab includes a debugger front end for notebooks, consoles and files when the selected kernel implements the Jupyter Debugger Protocol.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- JupyterLab can be installed with pip, and the installation page also gives a Homebrew command for macOS and Linux.jupyter.org · read 1 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- Documentation includes user guides, developer material, an extension migration guide, API reference, security guidance and a detailed changelog.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Extension ecosystem
- The project reported more than 700 JupyterLab 4 extensions and an average of about 18 new extensions per month in 2026.blog.jupyter.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Extension risk
- Extensions run JavaScript in the browser and can execute arbitrary code on the server, kernel, and client browser, so the documentation advises installing only trusted extensions.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 1 Oct 2026
- Extensions
- Extensions can add functionality through public APIs; prebuilt extensions are distributed through PyPI, conda and other package managers, while source extensions can be installed from npm with a build step.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
- Formats
- JupyterLab supports viewing and editing a range of formats, including Markdown, images, CSV, JSON, HTML, LaTeX, and PDF.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 1 Oct 2026
- Installation
- The official installation page provides pip installation and also points users to conda, mamba and Homebrew options.jupyter.org · read 15 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- JupyterLab is focused on interactive, exploratory computing and is suited to workflows such as data science, scientific computing, computational journalism, and machine learning.jupyter.org · read 1 Oct 2026
- Interactive computing
- Code consoles provide interactive scratchpads, and kernel-backed documents let users run code in text files such as Markdown, Python, R, and LaTeX.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 1 Oct 2026
- Interface
- The workspace supports multiple documents and activities arranged with tabs, panels and splitters.jupyterlab.readthedocs.io · read 15 Oct 2026
