# Getting Started ![CI](https://github.com/fastai/nbdev/actions/workflows/test.yaml/badge.svg) ## 🛑**Jan 2026 Major Version Update – Breaking Change**🛑 **nbdev3 is here!** As many of you have been requesting, configuration has moved from `settings.ini` to `pyproject.toml`, following modern Python packaging standards ([PEP 621](https://peps.python.org/pep-0621/)). Your project metadata now lives in the standard `[project]` section, while nbdev-specific settings go in `[tool.nbdev]`. **Migrating from nbdev2:** Run `nbdev-migrate-config` in your project root to automatically convert your `settings.ini` to `pyproject.toml` and update your GitHub Actions workflows to use nbdev3-compatible versions. Your existing notebooks and code don’t need any changes. `nbdev` is a notebook-driven development platform. Simply write notebooks with lightweight markup and get high-quality documentation, tests, continuous integration, and packaging for free! `nbdev` makes debugging and refactoring your code much easier than in traditional programming environments since you always have live objects at your fingertips. `nbdev` also promotes software engineering best practices because tests and documentation are first class. - **Documentation** is automatically generated using [Quarto](https://quarto.org/) and hosted on [GitHub Pages](https://pages.github.com/). Docs support LaTeX, are searchable, and are automatically hyperlinked (including out-of-the-box support for many packages via [`nbdev-index`](https://github.com/fastai/nbdev-index)) - **Publish packages to PyPI and conda** as well as tools to simplify package releases. Python best practices are automatically followed, for example, only exported objects are included in `__all__` - **Two-way sync between notebooks and plaintext source code** allowing you to use your IDE for code navigation or quick edits. Sync is robust: each exported cell is tagged with its unique notebook cell ID, so `nbdev-update` always updates the correct cell - **Tests** written as ordinary notebook cells are run in parallel with a single command - **Continuous integration** out-of-the-box with [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/features/actions) that run your tests and rebuild your docs - **Git-friendly notebooks** with [Jupyter/Git hooks](https://nbdev.fast.ai/tutorials/git_friendly_jupyter.html) that clean unwanted metadata and render merge conflicts in a human-readable format - … and much more! ## Install nbdev works on macOS, Linux, and most Unix-style operating systems. It works on Windows under WSL, but not under cmd or Powershell. You can install nbdev with pip: ``` sh pip install nbdev ``` Note that `nbdev` must be installed into the same Python environment that you use for both Jupyter and your project. ## How to use nbdev The best way to learn how to use nbdev is to complete either the [written walkthrough](https://nbdev.fast.ai/tutorials/tutorial.html) or video walkthrough:

Alternatively, there’s a [shortened version of the video walkthrough](https://youtu.be/67FdzLSt4aA) with coding sections sped up using the `unsilence` Python library – it’s 27 minutes faster, but a bit harder to follow. You can also run `nbdev-help` from the terminal to see the full list of available commands: ``` python !nbdev-help ``` nb-export Export a single nbdev notebook to a python script. nbdev-bump-version Increment version in __init__.py by one nbdev-changelog Create a CHANGELOG.md file from closed and labeled GitHub issues nbdev-clean Clean all notebooks in `fname` to avoid merge conflicts nbdev-conda Create a `meta.yaml` file ready to be built into a package, and optionally build and upload it nbdev-contributing Create CONTRIBUTING.md from contributing_nb (defaults to 'contributing.ipynb' if present). Skips if the file doesn't exist. nbdev-create-config Create a pyproject.toml config file. nbdev-docs Create Quarto docs and README.md nbdev-export Export notebooks in `path` to Python modules nbdev-filter A notebook filter for Quarto nbdev-fix Create working notebook from conflicted notebook `nbname` nbdev-help Show help for all console scripts nbdev-install Install Quarto and the current library nbdev-install-hooks Install Jupyter and git hooks to automatically clean, trust, and fix merge conflicts in notebooks nbdev-install-quarto Install latest Quarto on macOS or Linux, prints instructions for Windows nbdev-merge Git merge driver for notebooks nbdev-migrate Convert all markdown and notebook files in `path` from v1 to v2 nbdev-migrate-config Migrate settings.ini to pyproject.toml nbdev-new Create an nbdev project. nbdev-prepare Export, test, and clean notebooks, and render README if needed nbdev-preview Preview docs locally nbdev-proc-nbs Process notebooks in `path` for docs rendering nbdev-pypi Create and upload Python package to PyPI nbdev-readme Create README.md from readme_nb (index.ipynb by default) nbdev-release-both Release both conda and PyPI packages nbdev-release-gh Calls `nbdev-changelog`, lets you edit the result, then pushes to git and calls `nbdev-release-git` nbdev-release-git Tag and create a release in GitHub for the current version nbdev-requirements Writes a `requirements.txt` file to `directory` based on pyproject.toml. nbdev-sidebar Create sidebar.yml nbdev-test Test in parallel notebooks matching `path`, passing along `flags` nbdev-trust Trust notebooks matching `fname`. nbdev-update Propagate change in modules matching `fname` to notebooks that created them nbdev-update-license Allows you to update the license of your project. watch-export Use `nb_export` on ipynb files in `nbs` directory on changes using nbdev config if available ## FAQ ### Q: What is the warning “Found a cell containing mix of imports and computations. Please use separate cells”? A: You should not have cells that are not exported, *and* contain a mix of `import` statements along with other code. For instance, don’t do this in a single cell: ``` python import some_module some_module.something() ``` Instead, split this into two cells, one which does `import some_module`, and the other which does `some_module.something()`. Only top-level statements count: `try: import` blocks and imports inside function definitions are fine. The reason for this is that when we create your documentation website, we ensure that all of the signatures for functions you document are up to date, by running the imports, exported cells, and [`show_doc`](https://nbdev.fast.ai/api/showdoc.html#show_doc) functions in your notebooks. When you mix imports with other code, that other code will be run too, which can cause errors (or at least slowdowns) when creating your website. ### Q: Why is nbdev asking for root access? How do I install Quarto without root access? A: When you setup your first project, nbdev will attempt to automatically download and install [Quarto](https://quarto.org/) for you. This is the program that we use to create your documentation website. Quarto’s standard installation process requires root access, and nbdev will therefore ask for your root password during installation. For most people, this will work fine and everything will be handled automatically – if so, you can skip over the rest of this section, which talks about installing without root access. If you need to install Quarto without root access on Linux, first `cd` to wherever you want to store it, then [download Quarto](https://quarto.org/docs/get-started/), and type: ``` bash dpkg -x quarto*.deb . mv opt/quarto ./ rmdir opt mkdir -p ~/.local/bin ln -s "$(pwd)"/quarto/bin/quarto ~/.local/bin ``` To use this non-root version of Quarto, you’ll need `~/.local/bin` in your [`PATH` environment variable](https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-add-directory-to-path-in-linux/). (Alternatively, change the `ln -s` step to place the symlink somewhere else in your path.) ### Q: Someone told me not to use notebooks for “serious” software development! A: [Watch this video](https://youtu.be/9Q6sLbz37gk). Don’t worry, we still get this too, despite having used `nbdev` for a wide range of “very serious” software projects over the last three years, including [deep learning libraries](https://github.com/fastai/fastai), [API clients](https://github.com/fastai/ghapi), [Python language extensions](https://github.com/fastai/fastcore), [terminal user interfaces](https://github.com/nat/ghtop), and more! ## Contributing If you want to contribute to `nbdev`, be sure to review the [contributions guidelines](https://github.com/fastai/nbdev/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md). This project adheres to fastai’s [code of conduct](https://github.com/fastai/nbdev/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). By participating, you are expected to uphold this code. In general, we strive to abide by generally accepted best practices in open-source software development. Make sure you have `nbdev`’s git hooks installed by running `nbdev-install-hooks` in the cloned repository. ## Copyright Copyright © 2019 onward fast.ai, Inc. Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this project’s files except in compliance with the License. A copy of the License is provided in the LICENSE file in this repository.