xtralab 0.1.2

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.
• dockPanelPadding is off, so the main dock area is flush with the surrounding chrome.

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