the-littlest-jupyterhub/docs/howto/user-env/notebook-interfaces.md

(howto/user-env/notebook-interfaces)=

# Change default User Interface

By default, logging into TLJH puts you in the classic Jupyter Notebook
interface we all know and love. However, there are at least two other
popular notebook interfaces you can use:

1.  [JupyterLab](http://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/)
2.  [nteract](https://nteract.io/)

Both these interfaces are also shipped with TLJH by default. You can try
them temporarily, or set them to be the default interface whenever you
login.

## Trying an alternate interface temporarily

When you log in & start your server, by default the URL in your browser
will be something like `/user/<username>/tree`. The `/tree` is what
tells the notebook server to give you the classic notebook interface.

- **For the JupyterLab interface**: change `/tree` to `/lab`.
- **For the nteract interface**: change `/tree` to `/nteract`

You can play around with them and see what fits your use cases best.

## Changing the default user interface

You can change the default interface users get when they log in by
modifying `config.yaml` as an admin user.

1.  To launch **JupyterLab** when users log in, run the following in an
    admin console:

    ```bash
    sudo tljh-config set user_environment.default_app jupyterlab
    ```

2.  Alternatively, to launch **nteract** when users log in, run the
    following in the admin console:

    ```bash
    sudo tljh-config set user_environment.default_app nteract
    ```

3.  Apply the changes by restarting JupyterHub. This should not disrupt
    current users.

    ```bash
    sudo tljh-config reload hub
    ```

    If this causes problems, check the [logs](#troubleshoot-logs-jupyterhub) for
    clues on what went wrong.

Users might have to restart their servers from control panel to get the
new interface.