Change default User Interface#

By default, logging into TLJH puts you in the classic Jupyter Notebook interface we all know and love. However, there are at least two other popular notebook interfaces you can use:

  1. JupyterLab

  2. nteract

Both these interfaces are also shipped with TLJH by default. You can try them temporarily, or set them to be the default interface whenever you login.

Trying an alternate interface temporarily#

When you log in & start your server, by default the URL in your browser will be something like /user/<username>/tree. The /tree is what tells the notebook server to give you the classic notebook interface.

  • For the JupyterLab interface: change /tree to /lab.

  • For the nteract interface: change /tree to /nteract

You can play around with them and see what fits your use cases best.

Changing the default user interface#

You can change the default interface users get when they log in by modifying config.yaml as an admin user.

  1. To launch JupyterLab when users log in, run the following in an admin console:

    sudo tljh-config set user_environment.default_app jupyterlab
    
  2. Alternatively, to launch nteract when users log in, run the following in the admin console:

    sudo tljh-config set user_environment.default_app nteract
    
  3. Apply the changes by restarting JupyterHub. This should not disrupt current users.

    sudo tljh-config reload hub
    

    If this causes problems, check the logs for clues on what went wrong.

Users might have to restart their servers from control panel to get the new interface.