google-colab-cli 0.5.7

CLI for interacting with Colab.

Colab CLI

A command-line interface for Google Colab. Create sessions, run code, manage files, and capture work — all without leaving your terminal.

Why? The agents are coming.

Install

With uv

uv tool install -U google-colab-cli

or with pip

pip install -U google-colab-cli

Note: If you have a non-standard default package index (Googlers), you may also need to add --index https://pypi.org/simple.

Quick start

colab new                              # provision a CPU session
echo "print('hello')" | colab exec     # run code
colab stop                             # release the VM

When only one session is active you can omit -s <session>; the CLI selects it automatically.

Commands

Sessions

Command	Description
colab new [-s NAME] [--gpu T4|L4|A100|H100] [--tpu v5e1|v6e1]	Provision a new session (CPU by default)
colab sessions	List all active sessions on the backend
colab status [-s NAME]	Show one session, or all locally-known sessions
colab stop -s NAME	Terminate a session
colab url [-s NAME] [--open]	Print a browser URL that opens the session in Colab

Execution

Command	Description
colab exec [-s NAME] [-f FILE] [--output-image PATH]	Run Python from stdin, a .py file, or a .ipynb notebook
colab repl [-s NAME] [--output-image PATH]	Interactive Python REPL (or one-shot if stdin is piped)
colab console [-s NAME]	Raw TTY shell on the VM (or one-shot if stdin is piped)

Files

Command	Description
colab ls [-s NAME] [PATH]	List remote files
colab upload -s NAME LOCAL REMOTE	Upload a file
colab download -s NAME REMOTE LOCAL	Download a file
colab rm -s NAME PATH	Delete a remote file
colab edit -s NAME PATH	Edit a remote file in $EDITOR

Automation & utility

Command	Description
colab auth -s NAME	Authenticate the VM for GCP services
colab drivemount -s NAME [PATH]	Mount Google Drive (default /content/drive)
colab install -s NAME [-r requirements.txt | pkg ...]	Install packages with uv (falls back to pip)
colab log [-s NAME] [-n N] [-o FILE]	View or export session history (.ipynb/.md/.txt/.jsonl)
colab pay	Open the Colab signup page
colab version	Print the installed version
colab update [--install]	Check for a newer release (and optionally install it)
colab help	Show usage

Global options

• --auth {oauth2,adc} — authentication strategy (default oauth2)
• -c, --client-oauth-config PATH — OAuth client config (default ~/.colab-cli-oauth-config.json)
• --config PATH — session state file (default ~/.config/colab-cli/sessions.json)
• --logtostderr — send all output to stderr

Examples

# Train a model on an A100, save the checkpoint locally
colab new -s trainer --gpu A100
colab install -s trainer torch transformers
colab exec -s trainer -f train.py
colab download -s trainer checkpoints/model.bin ./model.bin
colab stop -s trainer

# Mount Drive and analyze a notebook
colab new -s analysis
colab drivemount -s analysis
colab exec -s analysis -f analysis.ipynb       # writes analysis_output.ipynb
colab log -s analysis -o report.ipynb
colab stop -s analysis

Notes

• repl and console require a TTY when run interactively. Pipe stdin to use them in scripts.
• exec reads files locally and ships their contents to the VM — local edits don't require uploading.
• Session metadata is stored at ~/.config/colab-cli/sessions.json. Settings (auto-update etc.) live at ~/.config/colab-cli/settings.json.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to file feedback.