Jupyter Notebook Kernels: How to Add, Change, Remove
Last updated:- Add Virtualenv as Python Kernel
- Add Apache Spark Kernel
- Add Scala Kernel
- List kernels
- Remove kernel
- Change Kernel name
Examples were run on Ubuntu Linux
Add Virtualenv as Python Kernel
Replace
your-venv
with your virtualenv name
Activate the virtualenv
$ source your-venv/bin/activate
Install jupyter in the virtualenv
(your-venv)$ pip install jupyter
Add the virtualenv as a jupyter kernel
(your-venv)$ ipython kernel install --name "local-venv" --user
You can now select the created kernel
your-env
when you start Jupyter
Add Apache Spark Kernel
Prerequisites: Java and a local Spark installation
Use a Jupyter plugin called Apache Toree.
Install the plugin into jupyter (replace Spark path with your installation directory):
$ pip install jupyter
$ pip install --upgrade toree
$ jupyter toree install --user --spark_home=/home/felipe/Downloads/spark-2.4.3-bin-hadoop2.7
$ jupyter notebook

and you'll be able to link jupyter to
an existing local spark installation
Add Scala Kernel
The following steps are a summarized form of the content on this page
Example: install Scala 2.12.8 kernel with almond version 0.7.0:
Download almond and scala libs
(coursier is a scala tool used to install almond)
$ curl -Lo coursier https://git.io/coursier-cli && chmod +x coursier
(replace scala and almond versions if you need to)
$ ./coursier bootstrap \ -r jitpack \ -i user -I user:sh.almond:scala-kernel-api_2.12.8:0.7.0 \ sh.almond:scala-kernel_2.12.8:0.7.0 \ -o almond
Install Scala kernel in Jupyter
$ ./almond --install --id scala_2_12_8 --display-name "Scala 2.12.8"
Open Jupyter notebook and select Scala kernel

would python ones
List kernels
Use jupyter kernelspec list
$ jupyter kernelspec list
Available kernels:
global-tf-python-3 /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/global-tf-python-3
local_venv2 /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/local_venv2
python2 /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/python2
python36 /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/python36
scala /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/scala
Remove kernel
Use jupyter kernelspec remove <kernel-name>
$ jupyter kernelspec remove old_kernel
Kernel specs to remove:
old_kernel /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/old_kernel
Remove 1 kernel specs [y/N]: y
[RemoveKernelSpec] Removed /home/felipe/.local/share/jupyter/kernels/old_kernel
Change Kernel name
1) Use
$ jupyter kernelspec list
to see the folder the kernel is located in2) In that folder, open up file
kernel.json
and edit option"display_name"