Contents.IDrive / filebrowsers wishlist

[jtpio]

Problem

Currently JupyterLab provides a way for third-party extensions to easily add extra source of contents via Contents.IDrive:

jupyterlab/packages/services/src/contents/index.ts

Line 461 in 97f1c6f

export interface IDrive extends IDisposable {

Proposed Solution

This is more of a meta-issue to track potential improvements and bug fixes to be done in JupyterLab to make the UX of working with drives more pleasant. Some existing issues:

• Open the File Browser in the main area with the shell layout settings #14697
• Support copying files between drives #7755
• Accessing files of a custom drive from a kernel #15289
• Default file browser creates new files and folders in a custom drive if installed #15629
• Improve testing of Contents.IDrive #15930
• Make the default filebrowser drive configurable #16099

The documentation could also be improved to provide more guidance and visibility on the drive feature to extension authors:

• Add an example for creating a new IDrive extension-examples#215

In downstream applications drives can allow for additional content via a third-party extension:

• JupyterLite: Switch to Contents.IDrive for the JupyterLite in-browser contents manager jupyterlite/jupyterlite#1041
• Notebook 7: Support for using a different IDrive jupyter/notebook#6665
• Access remote contents: https://github.com/davidbrochart/jupyterlab-remote-contents

Additional context

Example drives:

• https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab_collaboration
• https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab-github/
• https://github.com/jupyterlab-contrib/jupyterlab-filesystem-access
• https://github.com/jpmorganchase/jupyter-fs
• https://github.com/jupyterlab-contrib/jupyterlab-browser-storage

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Edited by @fcollonval: add jupyter-fs

[jtpio]

Feel free to edit the top comment or comment in this issue to provide more links to existing issues or external references.

[trungleduc]

An accordion panel can be useful for multiple drives since users can easily drag and drop files between drives.