Colab Notebook Bootstrap

Colab Notebook Bootstrap

Creates a new .ipynb with three code cells for Google Colab + GitHub development. This skill only writes the notebook file; it does not run it. Pair with run-notebook-on-colab to execute the resulting notebook on a Colab GPU.

Inputs

If any input is missing, ask the user.

References (load when relevant)

• kb/context/colab/colab-compatibility.md — papermill compatibility (avoid magics, drive mount guards)
• kb/context/colab/colab-sync-protocol.md — scp-only sync rule and "no git inside notebook" policy

Steps

1. Resolve repo path via fetch-repo-path if the notebook target is in a registered repo.
2. Confirm inputs — gather any missing fields from the user before writing the file.
3. Delegate write to a general-purpose subagent with a brief that includes the resolved absolute notebook path, the substituted cell contents (templates below), and the instruction to write a valid .ipynb JSON. The lead does not write the notebook directly.

Cell templates

Substitute <project_name>, <repo_url>, <repo_dir>, <branch_name>.

Cell 1 — Mount Drive

from google.colab import drive
drive.mount('/content/drive')

Cell 2 — Work dir

import os
assert os.path.exists('/content/drive')
WORK_DIR = '/content/drive/MyDrive/colab/<project_name>'
%mkdir -p $WORK_DIR
%cd $WORK_DIR

Cell 3 — Clone repo + checkout branch

try:
    import google.colab  # type: ignore
    IN_COLAB = True
except Exception:
    IN_COLAB = False

repo_url = '<repo_url>'
repo_dir = '<repo_dir>'
branch_name = '<branch_name>'

import os
if IN_COLAB:
    if os.path.exists(repo_dir):
        !rm -rf {repo_dir}
    !git clone $repo_url
    %cd $repo_dir
    !git fetch --all
    !git checkout $branch_name || echo 'Branch not found; staying on default.'

Notebook format

• cells: three code cells with cell_type: "code" and source as a list of strings.
• Omit execution_count and outputs (or set to null / []).
• Include minimal metadata: kernelspec (Python 3) and language_info.
• nbformat: 4, nbformat_minor: 5.

Output

• Path of the new .ipynb, ready to open in Colab or hand off to run-notebook-on-colab for execution.