jupyterlab_mcp_console

A JupyterLab extension to discover, inspect, and deploy MCP servers via the AgentRegistry API.

This extension is composed of a Python package named jupyterlab_mcp_console for the server extension and a NPM package named jupyterlab-mcp-console for the frontend extension.

Requirements

• JupyterLab >= 4.0.0

Install

To install the extension, execute:

pip install jupyterlab_mcp_console

Uninstall

To remove the extension, execute:

pip uninstall jupyterlab_mcp_console

Troubleshoot

If you are seeing the frontend extension, but it is not working, check that the server extension is enabled:

jupyter server extension list

If the server extension is installed and enabled, but you are not seeing the frontend extension, check the frontend extension is installed:

jupyter labextension list

Agentregistry authentication

The server extension supports two authentication modes when calling Agentregistry:

• Static bearer token via AGENTREGISTRY_TOKEN or ARCTL_API_TOKEN
• OIDC client credentials plus Agentregistry token exchange via:
  • AGENTREGISTRY_OIDC_TOKEN_URL
  • AGENTREGISTRY_OIDC_CLIENT_ID
  • AGENTREGISTRY_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET
  • AGENTREGISTRY_OIDC_SCOPE (optional)

When the OIDC variables are present, the extension will obtain a Keycloak access token, exchange it at POST /v0/auth/oidc, and use the returned registry_token for Agentregistry API requests.

Contributing

Development install

Note: You will need NodeJS to build the extension package.

The jlpm command is JupyterLab's pinned version of yarn that is installed with JupyterLab. You may use yarn or npm in lieu of jlpm below.

# Clone the repo to your local environment
# Change directory to the jupyterlab_mcp_console directory

# Set up a virtual environment and install package in development mode
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install --editable ".[dev,test]"

# Link your development version of the extension with JupyterLab
jupyter labextension develop . --overwrite
# Server extension must be manually installed in develop mode
jupyter server extension enable jupyterlab_mcp_console

# Rebuild extension Typescript source after making changes
# IMPORTANT: Unlike the steps above which are performed only once, do this step
# every time you make a change.
jlpm build

You can watch the source directory and run JupyterLab at the same time in different terminals to watch for changes in the extension's source and automatically rebuild the extension.

# Watch the source directory in one terminal, automatically rebuilding when needed
jlpm watch
# Run JupyterLab in another terminal
jupyter lab

With the watch command running, every saved change will immediately be built locally and available in your running JupyterLab. Refresh JupyterLab to load the change in your browser (you may need to wait several seconds for the extension to be rebuilt).

By default, the jlpm build command generates the source maps for this extension to make it easier to debug using the browser dev tools. To also generate source maps for the JupyterLab core extensions, you can run the following command:

jupyter lab build --minimize=False

Development uninstall

# Server extension must be manually disabled in develop mode
jupyter server extension disable jupyterlab_mcp_console
pip uninstall jupyterlab_mcp_console

In development mode, you will also need to remove the symlink created by jupyter labextension develop command. To find its location, you can run jupyter labextension list to figure out where the labextensions folder is located. Then you can remove the symlink named jupyterlab-mcp-console within that folder.

Testing the extension

Server tests

This extension is using Pytest for Python code testing.

Install test dependencies (needed only once):

pip install -e ".[test]"
# Each time you install the Python package, you need to restore the front-end extension link
jupyter labextension develop . --overwrite

To execute them, run:

pytest -vv -r ap --cov jupyterlab_mcp_console

Frontend tests

This extension is using Jest for JavaScript code testing.

To execute them, execute:

jlpm
jlpm test

Integration tests

This extension uses Playwright for the integration tests (aka user level tests). More precisely, the JupyterLab helper Galata is used to handle testing the extension in JupyterLab.

More information are provided within the ui-tests README.

AI Coding Assistant Support

This project includes an AGENTS.md file with coding standards and best practices for JupyterLab extension development. The file follows the AGENTS.md standard for cross-tool compatibility.

Compatible AI Tools

AGENTS.md works with AI coding assistants that support the standard, including Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Aider, and others. For a current list of compatible tools, see the AGENTS.md standard. This project also includes symlinks for tool-specific compatibility:

• CLAUDE.md → AGENTS.md (for Claude Code)

• GEMINI.md → AGENTS.md (for Gemini Code Assist)

Other conventions you might encounter:

• .cursorrules - Cursor's YAML/JSON format (Cursor also supports AGENTS.md natively)
• CONVENTIONS.md / CONTRIBUTING.md - For CodeConventions.ai and GitHub bots
• Project-specific rules in JetBrains AI Assistant settings

All tool-specific files should be symlinks to AGENTS.md as the single source of truth.

What's Included

The AGENTS.md file provides guidance on:

• Code quality rules and file-scoped validation commands
• Naming conventions for packages, plugins, and files
• Coding standards (TypeScript, Python)
• Development workflow and debugging
• Backend-frontend integration patterns (APIHandler, requestAPI(), routing)
• Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Customization

You can edit AGENTS.md to add project-specific conventions or adjust guidelines to match your team's practices. The file uses plain Markdown with Do/Don't patterns and references to actual project files.

Note: AGENTS.md is living documentation. Update it when you change conventions, add dependencies, or discover new patterns. Include AGENTS.md updates in commits that modify workflows or coding standards.

Packaging the extension

See RELEASE