Installing jupyterlite-webmcp

This is a plain JupyterLab prebuilt frontend extension: the wheel ships compiled JavaScript/CSS under share/jupyter/labextensions/jupyterlite-webmcp/, so installing it from PyPI does not require Node.js, npm, or a local build step. It has no server extension and no Python runtime dependencies (dependencies = [] in pyproject.toml).

JupyterLab (or Notebook 7)

Install from PyPI

pip install jupyterlite-webmcp

Install from source (development, or unreleased changes)

From a clone of this repository:

pip install ./packages/jupyterlite-webmcp

Or directly from git, no clone needed:

pip install "git+https://github.com/alliecatowo/jupyterlite-web-mcp.git#subdirectory=packages/jupyterlite-webmcp"

Building from source runs npm install and the production webpack build via hatch-jupyter-builder, so Node.js must be on your PATH; you never run npm yourself.

Confirm it registered:

jupyter labextension list
# jupyterlite-webmcp vX.Y.Z enabled OK (python, jupyterlite_webmcp)

Then start JupyterLab or Notebook 7 as usual (jupyter lab / jupyter notebook). No configuration is required — the extension activates automatically and does nothing unless the browser exposes document.modelContext.

The same install works for JupyterLab 4.6 and Notebook 7, which share one extension system: there is no separate build or flag for either. Both, and the JupyterLite demo, have been tested end to end (open, read, edit and run cells through the WebMCP tools).

JupyterLite

JupyterLite deployments are built from a requirements.txt (or equivalent lockfile) listing the Python packages to bundle into the static site's in-browser environment. Add jupyterlite-webmcp (unpinned or version-pinned, same as any other requirement):

jupyterlite-webmcp
# or, to build from this repository instead:
-e ./packages/jupyterlite-webmcp

then rebuild the site:

jupyter lite build --contents content --output-dir dist

This repository's own demo is built this way: see requirements.txt for a complete, working set of pins (JupyterLite core, JupyterLab, Notebook, the Pyodide kernel and this extension) and scripts/build-site.sh for the build that Vercel and CI run.

Uninstalling

pip uninstall jupyterlite_webmcp

Uninstalling only removes the tool surface; it does not touch any notebook, file, or review comment already saved — comments live in the notebook's own metadata, not in extension state.

Verifying WebMCP is active

No stable browser ships document.modelContext yet. To check whether it is present in the browser you're using:

document.modelContext && typeof document.modelContext.registerTool === 'function'

If that is false, the extension registers nothing, and the notebook — including the Agent panel — works exactly as it otherwise would. If it is true and this extension is installed, all 22 tools register (see tool reference) and the status bar reads WebMCP ready. See compatibility for how to enable WebMCP in a Chromium build that has the trial, and its calling convention once enabled.