Binder is a collection of technology that makes it easy to create sharable, interactive computing environments that run in the cloud. It makes it possible to run a server that enables users to specify their computational environment with commonly-used text files (such as requirements.txt for python users).
Binder provides an interface where users can provide a URL to their git repository. It will then construct the environment needed to run code in that repo, and provide a public link that anybody can use to immediately interact with the repository's contents. For a publicly-available service to demonstrate this functionality, see mybinder.org. Binder runs on Kubernetes, which means that it is scalable, reliable, and can be deployed on a wide variety of cloud platforms (it can even work on your own hardware!).
Over the last year, the JupyterHub team re-wrote the back-end technology of Binder from scratch, and the current release of Binder 2.0 defines the trajectory of the project for the coming years. The coming months will focus on refining the new Binder codebase, as well as growing a community of users and custom Binder servers.
If you're interested in using Binder, contributing to the Binder project, or deploying your own Binder server, please see the links below:
- To try out the public Binder service and learn how to make your repository Binder-ready, see mybinder.org.
- For information on using and building Binders with a deployment, see mybinder.readthedocs.io.
- For community blog posts around Binder, see the pandas-cookbook blog and the Binder workshop blog post.
- To see the BinderHub technology behind a deployment, see the GitHub repository.
- For instructions on deploying your own BinderHub, see the BinderHub documentation.
- To join the conversation around Binder, see the Gitter channel.
- For simple examples of Binder-ready repositories, see the binder-examples GitHub page.
Project Jupyter is an open-source project with many contributors. Key members of the JupyterHub and Binder project are listed alphabetically here (with BIDS members listed in bold): C. Titus Brown (UC Davis), Matthias Bussonnier (UC Berkeley), Jessica Forde (UC Berkeley), Jeremy Freeman (CZI), Brian Granger (Cal Poly), Tim Head (Wild Tree Tech), Chris Holdgraf (UC Berkeley), M Pacer (UC Berkeley), Fernando Perez (UC Berkeley), Min Ragan-Kelley (Simula Research Laboratory), and Carol Willing (Cal Poly).
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Introducing Binder 2.0 — share your interactive research environment
November 30, 2017 | eLife
Binder 2.0, a Tech Guide
November 30, 2017 | Jupyter Blog | Chris Holdgraf
