Settings Composition

Jupyterlab generates the settings for extensions using three layers:

1. user-settings

2. overrides.json

3. Extension default settings

Where a higher layer overrides the lower layer. The user-settings override all layer. The following paragraphs explain each settings layer in detail using the settings composition of @juxl/juxl.

Extension default settings

The Extension default settings are provided by the extension. They are delivered alongside the Javascript and Typescript code, typically in a folder named schema. It is possible to provide multipe settings files per extension. The only settings property provided by @juxl/juxl is the agent type, resulting in this default configuration:

{
  "agent": "anonymous"
}

Overrides.json

The override.json file is a special file containing configurations for all JupyterLab extensions. The override.json is under the JupyterLab Application Settings Directory, which itself is under the JupyterLab Application Directory.

Examples for this directory are:

• /opt/conda/share/jupyter/lab/settings

• /miniconda3/envs/jl/share/jupyter/lab/settings

depending on the installation. If we would want to override the agent type to use pseudo-anonymization, we create the following file:

{
  "@juxl/juxl-extension:juxl": {
    "agent": "pseudo-anonymous"
  }
}

Note

The structure of the overrides.json differs from the extension default settings and user-settings! Settings are encapsulated inside a “@extension:settings” property.

User-Settings

The user settings should only be edited throug the advanced settings editor. They are saved under the jupyterlab config directory. Run jupyter --config to get the config directory.

If the user generates a pseudonym it is saved as a user-settings resulting in such a file:

{
  "agent": "pseudo-anonymous",
  "pseudonym": "anonymous-z880b3j1c"
}