12 Must‑Have JupyterLab Extensions to Supercharge Your Data Science Workflow

1 Introduction

jupyter lab

is an upgraded version of jupyter notebook that offers a more user‑friendly interface, extensive customization, and a rich ecosystem of extensions, allowing each user to build a personalized workspace.

This article presents twelve useful jupyter lab plugins that I frequently use in daily work.

2 JupyterLab Practical Plugins

2.1 debugger

Debugging in notebooks can be painful, but the official debugger extension makes it enjoyable. It relies on the xeus kernel rather than the usual ipykernel, so you must install xeus first before adding the debugger.

conda install xeus-python=0.8.0 -c conda-forge
jupyter labextension install @jupyterlab/debugger

Official docs: https://github.com/jupyterlab/debugger

2.2 geojson‑extension

The geojson‑extension lets you visualize geojson files directly in the JupyterLab interface as interactive maps.

Because it is built on leaflet, it is not suitable for extremely large geojson files.

jupyter labextension install @jupyterlab/geojson-extension

Official docs: https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyter-renderers

2.3 jupyterlab‑toc

jupyterlab‑toc

creates a markdown‑based table of contents for notebooks, helping you organize and navigate complex analysis workflows.

jupyter labextension install @jupyterlab/toc

Official docs: https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab-toc

2.4 jupyter‑matplotlib

The jupyter‑matplotlib extension enables interactive Matplotlib plots in notebooks by running the magic command %matplotlib widget before plotting.

pip install ipympl
jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager jupyter-matplotlib

Official docs: https://github.com/matplotlib/ipympl

2.5 jupyterlab‑drawio

jupyterlab‑drawio

integrates the Draw.io editor into JupyterLab, allowing you to create flowcharts, mind maps, and other diagrams directly within the notebook interface.

jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-drawio

Official docs: https://github.com/QuantStack/jupyterlab-drawio

2.6 jupyterlab‑execute‑time

The jupyterlab‑execute‑time extension records the start time and execution duration of each notebook cell.

jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-execute-time

Official docs: https://github.com/deshaw/jupyterlab-execute-time

2.7 jupyterlab‑plotly

The jupyterlab‑plotly extension enables proper rendering of Plotly visualizations inside JupyterLab.

jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager [email protected]

Official docs: https://github.com/plotly/plotly.py

2.8 jupyterlab‑spreadsheet

The jupyterlab‑spreadsheet extension provides an Excel‑like viewer for spreadsheet files, supporting multiple worksheets.

jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-spreadsheet

Official docs: https://github.com/quigleyj97/jupyterlab-spreadsheet

2.9 jupyterlab‑system‑monitor

The jupyterlab‑system‑monitor adds a resource monitor widget to JupyterLab, showing real‑time CPU and memory usage.

pip install nbresuse
jupyter labextension install jupyterlab-topbar-extension jupyterlab-system-monitor

Official docs: https://github.com/jtpio/jupyterlab-system-monitor

2.10 keplergl‑jupyter

The keplergl‑jupyter extension integrates Kepler.gl for interactive geospatial visualizations within JupyterLab.

jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager keplergl-jupyter

Official docs: https://github.com/keplergl/kepler.gl/tree/master/bindings/kepler.gl-jupyter

2.11 jupyterlab‑kite

The jupyterlab‑kite plugin connects the Kite AI code‑completion engine to JupyterLab, providing intelligent suggestions while coding.

pip install jupyter-kite
jupyter labextension install @kiteco/jupyterlab-kite

Official docs: https://github.com/kiteco/jupyterlab-kite

2.12 jupyterlab‑variableInspector

The jupyterlab‑variableInspector displays information about variables in the current environment using a clean, interactive UI.

jupyter labextension install @lckr/jupyterlab_variableinspector

Official docs: https://github.com/lckr/jupyterlab-variableInspector

That concludes the article. Feel free to leave comments or questions below.