jupyter-live-kernel

Jupyter Live Kernel (hamelnb)

Gives you a stateful Python REPL via a live Jupyter kernel. Variables persist across executions. Use this instead of execute_code when you need to build up state incrementally, explore APIs, inspect DataFrames, or iterate on complex code.

When to Use This vs Other Tools

Tool	Use When
This skill	Iterative exploration, state across steps, data science, ML, "let me try this and check"
execute_code	One-shot scripts needing hermes tool access (web_search, file ops). Stateless.
terminal	Shell commands, builds, installs, git, process management

Rule of thumb: If you'd want a Jupyter notebook for the task, use this skill.

Prerequisites

1. uv must be installed (check: which uv)
2. JupyterLab must be installed: uv tool install jupyterlab
3. A Jupyter server must be running (see Setup below)

Setup

The hamelnb script location:

SCRIPT="$HOME/.agent-skills/hamelnb/skills/jupyter-live-kernel/scripts/jupyter_live_kernel.py"

If not cloned yet:

git clone https://github.com/hamelsmu/hamelnb.git ~/.agent-skills/hamelnb

Starting JupyterLab

Check if a server is already running:

uv run "$SCRIPT" servers

If no servers found, start one:

jupyter-lab --no-browser --port=8888 --notebook-dir=$HOME/notebooks \
  --IdentityProvider.token='' --ServerApp.password='' > /tmp/jupyter.log 2>&1 &
sleep 3

Note: Token/password disabled for local agent access. The server runs headless.

Creating a Notebook for REPL Use

If you just need a REPL (no existing notebook), create a minimal notebook file:

mkdir -p ~/notebooks

Write a minimal .ipynb JSON file with one empty code cell, then start a kernel session via the Jupyter REST API:

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8888/api/sessions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"path":"scratch.ipynb","type":"notebook","name":"scratch.ipynb","kernel":{"name":"python3"}}'

Core Workflow