---
id: bash-kernel
version: "0.10.0"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# bash_kernel — A bash kernel for Jupyter

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 176.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

bash_kernel is a Jupyter kernel that lets you run bash commands interactively in notebook cells and console environments. It wraps bash through pexpect to provide a REPL interface, allowing you to execute shell scripts, system commands, and pipelines directly within Jupyter's notebook interface. The kernel also supports rich output—you can pipe images, HTML, and JavaScript to display functions to render them inline in notebook cells.

The package depends on pexpect (for shell interaction), ipykernel (for Jupyter integration), and filetype (for content detection). Installation is straightforward but requires a manual registration step after pip install. The project is dormant, with the last update in January 2025 and no active development, so compatibility with very recent Jupyter or Python versions may not be guaranteed.

Use it for:

- Execute system administration or DevOps tasks directly in a notebook for documentation and reproducibility.
- Combine bash commands with Jupyter's notebook interface to create executable shell tutorials or runbooks.
- Generate and display plots or visualizations from command-line tools (gnuplot, graphviz) inline in notebooks.
- Prototype and test bash scripts interactively without leaving the notebook environment.
- Display HTML or JavaScript output from bash commands for interactive dashboards or reports.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Enables running and interacting with bash commands directly inside Jupyter notebooks and consoles as a kernel, with support for displaying images, HTML, and JavaScript output.

Yes, if you need to run bash interactively in Jupyter and accept dormant maintenance. The package is stable for basic shell execution and has low install friction, but the lack of recent updates means you should verify compatibility with your specific Jupyter and Python versions before relying on it in production workflows.

## Install

pip install bash-kernel
uv add bash-kernel
poetry add bash-kernel

## Installing bash_kernel

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel, but requires a post-install registration step (`python -m bash_kernel.install`) to function. Dormant maintenance status (last release 2025-01-05, no updates for 586 days) means bug fixes and compatibility updates are unlikely.

License in practice: BSD License (permissive) allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, typical for Jupyter ecosystem packages.

Quickstart:

pip install bash_kernel
python -m bash_kernel.install
jupyter notebook
# Then select Bash from the 'New' menu in the notebook interface

Requires a functioning interactive bash installation with GNU readline support; some Linux distributions ship bash without these features and need a separate, more complete bash package installed.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package works with current Jupyter versions beyond IPython 3 (mentioned in description but Python/IPython support is unspecified).
- Compatibility with recent Python versions and whether dormant status affects stability with modern Jupyter releases.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 176.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

jupyter bash kernel, run bash in jupyter notebook, bash shell jupyter, interactive bash notebook, jupyter kernel bash, bash repl jupyter, jupyter-kernel, shell-integration

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