README

jupyter-videochat

Video Chat with JupyterHub peers inside JupyterLab, powered by Jitsi.

This extension is composed of:

a Python package named jupyter_videochat, which offers:
- a jupyter_server extension which provides convenient, configurable defaults for rooms on a JupyterHub
- a JupyterLab federated extension named jupyter-videochat
  - also distributed on npm
  - for more about the TypeScript/JS API, see CONTRIBUTING

jupyter-videochat screenshot

Requirements

python >=3.6
jupyterlab ==3.*

Install

Install the server extension and JupyterLab extension with pip:

pip install -U jupyter-videochat

...or conda:

conda install -c conda-forge jupyter-videochat

Troubleshoot

If you are seeing the frontend extension but it is not working, check that the server extension is enabled:

jupyter server extension list
jupyter server extension enable --sys-prefix --py jupyter_videochat

If you launch your Jupyter server with jupyter notebook, as Binder does, the equivalent commands are:
jupyter serverextension list
jupyter serverextension enable --sys-prefix --py jupyter_videochat

If the server extension is installed and enabled but you are not seeing the frontend, check the frontend is installed:

jupyter labextension list

If you do not see jupyterlab-videochat, the best course of action is to uninstall and reinstall, and carefully watch the log output.

Uninstall

pip uninstall jupyter-videochat

Configuration

Server Configuration

In your jupyter_server_config.json (or equivalent .py or conf.d/*.json), you can configure the VideoChat:

room_prefix, a prefix used for your group, by default a URL-frieldy version of your JupyterHub's hostname
- can be overriden with the JUPYTER_VIDEOCHAT_ROOM_PREFIX environment variable
jitsi_server, an HTTPS host that serves the Jitsi web application, by default meet.jit.si
rooms, a list of Room descriptions that everyone on your Hub will be able to join

Example

{
  "VideoChat": {
    "room_prefix": "our-spiffy-room-prefix",
    "rooms": [
      {
        "id": "stand-up",
        "displayName": "Stand-Up",
        "description": "Daily room for meeting with the team"
      },
      {
        "id": "all-hands",
        "displayName": "All-Hands",
        "description": "A weekly room for the whole team"
      }
    ],
    "jitsi_server": "jitsi.example.com"
  }
}

Client Configuration

In the JupyterLab Advanced Settings panel, the Video Chat settings can be further configured, as can a user's default displayName and email. The defaults provided are generally pretty conservative, and disable as many third-party services as possible. Additionally, access to globally-accessible public rooms may be enabled.

Binder Client Example

For example, to enable all third-party features, public rooms, and open in the main area by default:

create an overrides.json

{
  "jupyter-videochat:plugin": {
    "interfaceConfigOverwrite": null,
    "configOverwrite": null,
    "disablePublicRooms": false,
    "area": "main"
  }
}

Copy it to the JupyterLab settings directory

# postBuild
mkdir -p ${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/share/jupyter/lab/settings
cp overrides.json ${NB_PYTHON_PREFIX}/share/jupyter/lab/settings

Start a Meet by URL

Appending ?jvc=room-name to a JupyterLab URL will automatically open the Meet (but not fully start it, as browsers require a user gesture to start audio/video).

Binder URL Example

On Binder, use the urlpath to append the argument, ensuring the arguments get properly URL-encoded.

https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/yuvipanda/jupyter-videochat/HEAD?urlpath=tree%3Fjvc%3DStand-Up
                                                         # URL-encoded  [? ] [=  ]

nbgitpuller

If you have two repos (or branches) that contain:

content that changes frequently
a stable environment

...you can use nbgitpuller to have fast-building, (almost) single-click URLs that launch right into JupyterLab showing your meeting and content. For example, to use...

the Python Data Science Handbook as master
this project's repo, at HEAD (not recommended, as it's pretty minimal)

...and launch directly into JupyterLab showing

the Preface notebook
the Office Hours room

...the doubly-escaped URL would be something like:

https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/yuvipanda/jupyter-videochat/HEAD?
urlpath=git-pull
  %3Frepo%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fgithub.com%252Fjakevdp%252FPythonDataScienceHandbook
  %26branch%3Dmaster
  %26urlpath%3Dlab%252Ftree%252FPythonDataScienceHandbook%252Fnotebooks%252F00.00-Preface.ipynb
  %253Fjvc%253DOffice%2BHours

Usage no npm install needed!