colab-env-switcher 0.1.2.post3

A Python environment switcher for Google Colab

Colab Environment Switcher

A simple Python library to easily switch Python versions in Google Colab environments.

Features

• 🚀 Quick Python version switching in Google Colab
• 📦 Automatic pip installation for the new Python version
• ✅ Simple one-line API
• 🔧 Optional uv package manager installation
• 🔄 Auto restart runtime to apply changes (new in 0.1.2.post2)

Installation

From PyPI (Recommended)

# Install directly from PyPI
!pip install colab-env-switcher

From GitHub Release

# Install from GitHub Release wheel file
pip install https://github.com/911218sky/colab-env-switcher/releases/latest/download/colab_env_switcher-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

From GitHub Source

# Install latest version from GitHub source
!pip install git+https://github.com/911218sky/colab-env-switcher.git

Local Development

pip install -e .

Usage

Basic Usage

from colab_env_switcher import switch_python_version

# Switch to Python 3.11 (will auto restart runtime)
switch_python_version("3.11")

With uv Package Manager

from colab_env_switcher import switch_python_version

# Switch to Python 3.10 and install uv
switch_python_version("3.10", install_uv=True)

Disable Auto Restart

from colab_env_switcher import switch_python_version

# Switch without auto restart (useful if you want to install packages first)
switch_python_version("3.12", auto_restart=False)

# Then manually restart later:
# from google.colab import runtime; runtime.unassign()

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
version	str	required	Python version to switch to (e.g., "3.11")
install_uv	bool	False	Install uv package manager after switching
auto_restart	bool	True	Automatically restart runtime after switching

Supported Python Versions

• Python 3.7
• Python 3.8
• Python 3.9
• Python 3.10
• Python 3.11
• Python 3.12
• Python 3.13 (if available)
• Python 3.14 (experimental, if available)

Note: Newer Python versions (3.13+) may have limited package availability. For production use, we recommend Python 3.10-3.12.

Example in Colab

# Install the library
!pip install colab-env-switcher

# Import and use
from colab_env_switcher import switch_python_version

# Switch to Python 3.11 (runtime will auto restart)
switch_python_version("3.11")

# After restart, verify the version
import sys
print(sys.version)

# Reinstall your required packages
!pip install numpy pandas matplotlib

Important Notes

⚠️ After switching Python versions:

• The runtime will automatically restart (unless auto_restart=False)
• After restart, sys.version will show the correct Python version
• You need to reinstall all required packages

License

MIT License