xtralab 0.1.1

An opinionated JupyterLab meta-package that bundles a curated set of extensions, ships a path-first file browser and a VS Code-style git changes panel, and applies a quieter default workspace configuration.

xtralab

An opinionated JupyterLab meta-package.

xtralab bundles a curated set of JupyterLab extensions, ships its own JupyterLab extension with a path-first file browser and a VS Code-style git changes panel, and applies a quieter default workspace configuration. The defaults are shipped under etc/jupyter/labconfig and the bundled labextension is shipped under share/jupyter/labextensions/xtralab.

The goal is to keep the package easy to inspect: most behavior comes from the upstream Jupyter packages, while xtralab defines the default environment we want out of the box.

Approach

The package brings together:

• The ajlab meta-package (agent-ready JupyterLab — collaboration plumbing, MCP support, command tooling, and its own quieter defaults)
• JupyterLab 4.6+
• Git server integration (jupyterlab-git — backs the bundled changes panel)
• Quick file opening (jupyterlab-quickopen)
• Cursor styling helpers (jupyterlab-cursor-light, jupyterlab-cursor-theme)
• Day and night themes (jupyterlab-day, jupyterlab-night)

These are installed as normal Python dependencies, so deployments can still override versions and Jupyter configuration in the usual ways.

Bundled labextension

xtralab ships its own prebuilt labextension that contributes:

• A path-first file browser in the left sidebar, built on @pierre/trees.
• A VS Code-style "Source Control" panel in the left sidebar, powered by the jupyterlab-git server REST API and @pierre/diffs. The bundled @jupyterlab/git frontend is disabled automatically so the two panels do not coexist.

Default settings

xtralab ships the following JupyterLab defaults:

• The announcements plugin is disabled, so JupyterLab does not prompt to fetch news from the Jupyter news feed and does not check for application updates.
• The Table of Contents, Debugger, and Notebook Tools panels are disabled so they do not show up in the right sidebar by default.

The JupyterLab frontend defaults are shipped as labconfig/*.d/00-xtralab.json fragments so downstream meta-packages can add their own Lab configuration fragments without replacing xtralab's files.

Install

pip install xtralab

Development

# Install dependencies and the package in editable mode
uv pip install -e ".[dev]"
jlpm
jlpm build

License

BSD-3-Clause