Installing an IPython Kernel For a Virtual Environment For Use in Jupyter Notebook

The goal today is to make Jupyter aware of your pre-existing virtual environment by installing an IPython Kernel.

By running the terminal commands below you will be able to make Jupyter aware of the installation of Python in your virtual environment as well as all of the libraries you install through pip.

Activate Your Virtual Environment

Replace test_env with the name of the folder containing your virtual environment

source ~/virtualenvironment/test_env/bin/activate

Ensure Jupyter is Installed

pip install jupyter

Ensure ipykernel is Installed

pip install --user ipykernel

Install the IPython Kernel

Replace test_env with the name of the folder containing your virtual environment

python -m ipykernel install --user --name test_env
...Installed kernelspec test_env in /Users/pnelson/Library/Jupyter/kernels/test_env

Launch Jupyter Notebook

jupyter notebook

Change your Kernel

Inside Jupyter notebook on the toolbar, click Kernel > Change Kernel > your_kernel. You will now see the name of the active kernel at the top right.

List All Installed Kernels

ipython kernelspec list

Uninstall Kernels

ipython kernelspec remove <kernel_name>