Colab Desktop

A modern desktop wrapper for Google Colab built with Electron, providing a native app experience with enhanced features and keyboard shortcuts.

✨ Features

🔍 Zoom Controls

• Zoom In: Ctrl/Cmd + + or Ctrl/Cmd + =
• Zoom Out: Ctrl/Cmd + -
• Reset Zoom: Ctrl/Cmd + 0
• Zoom range: 50% to 300%

🌙 Theme Management

• Toggle Dark Mode: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D
• System Theme: Automatically follows your OS theme
• Native integration with system preferences

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl/Cmd + +	Zoom In
Ctrl/Cmd + -	Zoom Out
Ctrl/Cmd + 0	Reset Zoom
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D	Toggle Dark Mode
Ctrl/Cmd + R	Reload Page
Ctrl/Cmd + W	Close App
F12	Toggle Developer Tools

🛠️ Additional Features

• External Links: Automatically opens in your default browser
• Menu Integration: Full menu bar with all features
• Preload Security: Secure context isolation enabled
• Custom Icon: Beautiful Colab-themed app icon

🚀 Quick Start

📥 Download & Run (Recommended)

For end users who just want to use the app:

1. Download the latest release
   • Go to Releases
   • Download colab-desktop-win32-x64.zip (Windows)
   • Extract the ZIP file
   • Run colab-desktop.exe

🛠️ Development Setup

For developers who want to modify the code:

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher)
• npm (comes with Node.js)

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/justvicthor/colab_desktop.git
   cd colab_desktop

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Run the application

   npm start

📁 Project Structure

colab-desktop/
├── main.js              # Main Electron process
├── preload.js           # Preload script for security
├── package.json         # Project configuration
├── package-lock.json    # Dependency lock file
├── icon/                # App icons
│   ├── colab.png
│   ├── colab_go.png     # Current app icon
│   ├── colab_b.png
│   ├── colab_rb.png
│   └── colab_w.png
└── README.md            # This file

🛠️ Development

Building for Production

To package the application for distribution:

# Install electron-builder (if not already installed)
npm install --save-dev electron-builder

# Build for current platform
npm run build

# Build for all platforms
npm run build:all

Adding New Features

The main application logic is in main.js. Key areas:

• Window Configuration: Lines 8-16
• Menu Setup: Lines 29-90
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Lines 95-140
• Theme Management: Uses Electron's nativeTheme API

🔧 Configuration

Changing the App Icon

Replace the icon files in the /icon directory and update the path in main.js:

icon: path.join(__dirname, 'icon', 'your-icon.png')

Customizing Zoom Levels

Modify the zoom limits in main.js:

// Current: 50% to 300%
win.webContents.setZoomFactor(Math.min(currentZoom + 0.1, 3.0)); // Max zoom
win.webContents.setZoomFactor(Math.max(currentZoom - 0.1, 0.5)); // Min zoom

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

Development Guidelines

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Google Colab for the amazing platform
• Electron for making desktop apps with web technologies possible
• Icons from Google Colab's official resources

📞 Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the Issues page
2. Create a new issue if your problem isn't already reported
3. Provide detailed information about your system and the issue

---

Made with ❤️ for the data science community

Enjoy coding in Google Colab with a native desktop experience!