Connection options

Explore Pod connection options, including the web terminal, SSH, JupyterLab, and VSCode/Cursor.

Choose a connection method based on your workflow:

Method	Best for	Persistence	Setup
Web terminal	Quick commands, debugging	Session-based	None
SSH	Long-running processes, reliable access	Persistent	SSH client
JupyterLab	Data science, notebooks	Session-based	Template-dependent
VS Code/Cursor	Full development environment	Persistent	Extension

Web terminal

Browser-based terminal for quick access. Not recommended for long-running processes (use SSH instead).

1. Navigate to the Pods page.
2. Expand your Pod and click Connect.
3. Click Start if the terminal is stopped, then Open Web Terminal.

If Start doesn’t respond, refresh the page.

JupyterLab

Interactive web environment for code, files, and data analysis. Available on templates with JupyterLab pre-configured (e.g., “Runpod Pytorch”).

Web Console

1. Deploy a Pod with a JupyterLab-compatible template (all official Runpod PyTorch templates have JupyterLab pre-configured).
2. Navigate to the Pods page and click Connect.
3. Under HTTP Services, click the Jupyter Lab link (usually port 8888).

CLI

Create a Pod with JupyterLab access using the CLI:

runpodctl pod create \
  --name my-jupyter-pod \
  --gpu-id "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090" \
  --image "runpod/pytorch:2.1.0-py3.10-cuda11.8.0-devel-ubuntu22.04" \
  --container-disk-in-gb 20 \
  --volume-in-gb 50 \
  --ports "8888/http" \
  --env '{"JUPYTER_PASSWORD":"your_secure_password"}'

After the Pod starts, access JupyterLab at https://[POD_ID]-8888.proxy.runpod.net.

Set the JUPYTER_PASSWORD environment variable to configure JupyterLab authentication. If not set, some templates use a default password shown in the Pod logs.

If the JupyterLab tab displays a blank page for more than a minute or two, try restarting the Pod and opening it again.

SSH

Secure, reliable command-line access for long-running processes and development.

See Connect with SSH for setup instructions.

VS Code / Cursor

Connect your local IDE directly to your Pod for a full development experience.

See Connect to VS Code or Cursor for setup instructions.