Jupyter Notebook MCP server for AI agents

Jupyter MCP Server enables real-time AI interaction with Jupyter Notebooks, allowing AI systems to edit, document, and execute code through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It works with any Jupyter deployment and provides seamless integration with various MCP clients.

Installation

Setting Up Your Environment

Before installing the Jupyter MCP Server, you'll need to set up the required dependencies:

pip install jupyterlab==4.4.1 jupyter-collaboration==4.0.2 ipykernel
pip uninstall -y pycrdt datalayer_pycrdt
pip install datalayer_pycrdt==0.12.17

Starting JupyterLab

Launch JupyterLab with the following command:

jupyter lab --port 8888 --IdentityProvider.token MY_TOKEN --ip 0.0.0.0

Replace MY_TOKEN with your preferred security token.

Configuring MCP Clients

You'll need to configure your MCP client to communicate with the Jupyter MCP Server. The configuration differs slightly depending on your operating system.

MacOS and Windows Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jupyter": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_URL",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_ID",
        "-e",
        "RUNTIME_URL",
        "-e",
        "RUNTIME_TOKEN",
        "datalayer/jupyter-mcp-server:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DOCUMENT_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:8888",
        "DOCUMENT_TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN",
        "DOCUMENT_ID": "notebook.ipynb",
        "RUNTIME_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:8888",
        "RUNTIME_TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Linux Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jupyter": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_URL",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "DOCUMENT_ID",
        "-e",
        "RUNTIME_URL",
        "-e",
        "RUNTIME_TOKEN",
        "--network=host",
        "datalayer/jupyter-mcp-server:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "DOCUMENT_URL": "http://localhost:8888",
        "DOCUMENT_TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN",
        "DOCUMENT_ID": "notebook.ipynb",
        "RUNTIME_URL": "http://localhost:8888",
        "RUNTIME_TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration Notes

When configuring your MCP client, remember these important details:

The port in DOCUMENT_URL and RUNTIME_URL must match the port used in your JupyterLab command
DOCUMENT_ID is the path to your notebook, relative to the directory where JupyterLab was started
In basic setups, DOCUMENT_URL and RUNTIME_URL are identical
Similarly, DOCUMENT_TOKEN and RUNTIME_TOKEN are usually the same as your Jupyter token

Key Features

Jupyter MCP Server offers several powerful capabilities:

Real-time control for instantly viewing notebook changes as they happen
Smart execution that automatically adjusts when a cell run fails, thanks to cell output feedback
MCP-Compatibility with any MCP client, including Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and more

Available Tools

The MCP server provides multiple tools for interacting with Jupyter notebooks:

insert_execute_code_cell
append_markdown_cell
get_notebook_info
read_cell
And many more

For a complete list of available tools and their usage, you can visit the tools documentation.

Additional Resources

For more detailed instructions, including Streamable HTTP transport configuration and setting up various MCP clients like Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cursor, Cline, and Windsurf, visit the comprehensive documentation.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "jupyter" '{"command":"docker","args":["run","-i","--rm","-e","SERVER_URL","-e","TOKEN","-e","NOTEBOOK_PATH","datalayer/jupyter-mcp-server:latest"],"env":{"SERVER_URL":"http://host.docker.internal:8888","TOKEN":"MY_TOKEN","NOTEBOOK_PATH":"notebook.ipynb"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "jupyter": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "-i",
                "--rm",
                "-e",
                "SERVER_URL",
                "-e",
                "TOKEN",
                "-e",
                "NOTEBOOK_PATH",
                "datalayer/jupyter-mcp-server:latest"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SERVER_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:8888",
                "TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN",
                "NOTEBOOK_PATH": "notebook.ipynb"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "jupyter": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "run",
                "-i",
                "--rm",
                "-e",
                "SERVER_URL",
                "-e",
                "TOKEN",
                "-e",
                "NOTEBOOK_PATH",
                "datalayer/jupyter-mcp-server:latest"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SERVER_URL": "http://host.docker.internal:8888",
                "TOKEN": "MY_TOKEN",
                "NOTEBOOK_PATH": "notebook.ipynb"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect