JupyterLab is Now Available as a Desktop App. Should You Care? | by Dario Radečić | Towards Data Science

The most popular data science IDE just got better. The days of launching JupyterLab through the terminal are thankfully over, as the desktop version was released weeks ago. Yes, you read that right — you can now install JupyterLab as a desktop application on any OS. And this article will show you how.
Don’t feel like reading? Watch the six-minute video instead:
No, you don’t need to download the source code and build it — but you can if you want. The authors placed links to the installers on their GitHub page, so download the file that matches your OS:
For example, clicking on macOS Installer would download a .pkg file, Windows Installer would download .exe and so on.
The installation is as simple as they come. On Mac, you’ll have to click on Continue a couple of times. I imagine the procedure is identical on Windows, and Linux versions are installable through the terminal.
Once installed, you’ll find JupyterLab listed in your applications. Once opened, a familiar interface pops up:
And that’s all you have to do — JupyterLab app is now installed.
The interface of the desktop app is identical to the browser alternative. After you create a notebook, you can mess around with Markdown — select a cell and press ESC, M, and Enter, one after the other:
# Heading 1 - List item 1- List item 2**This is bolded**.$$ \Large c = \sqrt{a^2 + b^2} $$
You can run Python code and use any installed library. For example, here’s how to make a Numpy array:
You can also change the kernel. Let’s say you have a dedicated virtual environment for a specific project — you can access it by clicking on the kernel options at the bottom of the screen:
From there, simply select the environment you want. One of mine is named env_tensorflow, so I’ll select it and try to import TensorFlow:
As you can see, changing the environment restarts the runtime. It’s always a good idea to select the correct environment first, and then run the code. It will save you a lot of time, especially if you’re working with large datasets.
And that’s JupyterLab Desktop in a nutshell. The question remains — should you use it? After all, it’s identical to the browser-based version.
I see two reasons why you might opt for the desktop version:
You prefer dedicated desktop apps in general — Navigating browser tabs gets messy real fast. Nobody needs yet another tab that’s somehow impossible to find when you need it.
You accidentally close the browser way too often — That’s exactly what happens to me. On Mac, you can close any selected application by pressing CMD+C. Oftentimes, I have JupyterLab running in Safari on the left side of the screen and something like Stack Overflow on the right. Pressing CMD+C will close both, even if you only selected the right one. It’s super annoying and happens more often than I want to admit.
Apart from that, the desktop version has no edge over its browser-based brother.
What do you guys think? Will you install JupyterLab desktop app or are you satisfied with the web instance? Please let me know in the comment section below.
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