Frequently Asked Question

You can use virtual environments to install specific versions of packages and install a custom Jupyter kernel to use them in your interactive notebooks.

1. Open a terminal from the launcher.
2. Go to the directory where you want to store your virtual environment.
   

   cd the/directory/you/want

3. Create the virtual environment (change myenv with the name you want).

   python -m venv myenv --system-site-packages

   The --system-site-packages flag allows the packages installed on the platform to remain accessible in the virtual environment. If you want a clean environment do not use this flag.
   
   
4. Activate the virtual environment.

   source myenv/bin/activate

5. Register the virtual environment with JupyterLab.

   python -m ipykernel install --user --name=myenv

   The virtual environment will be listed in the launcher and kernels list once you log out and log in again.
   
   
6. Install packages you want.

   pip install package==version
   pip install package==version

7. Exit the virtual environment.

   deactivate

8. If you need to install additional packages later, activate the virtual environment and install packages as indicated above.
9. You can un-register the virtual environment at any time.

   jupyter kernelspec uninstall myenv

10. You can remove the virtual environment by removing its directory.

    rm -rf myenv

11. Some packages may require system-wide libraries to be available. If you encounter any errors while installing packages please contact us.

Further Reading:

• Use Virtual Environments Inside Jupyter Notebooks and JupterLab (Best Practices)
• Create Virtual Environment using virtualenv and add it to Jupyter Notebook