Loosing the params send from front end App while the worker is reloading.

[silsila]

I have a React.js application where I embed a Jupyter Notebook served via a Mercury (Docker) server using an iframe. I'm passing environment-specific variables (like URLs, IDs) through the iframe URL to the notebook. This works correctly on the initial load.

However, the issue occurs when the Mercury app refreshes or the worker is reloaded. In such cases, the notebook loses the data that was initially passed from the React application via the iframe.

Here’s what I’ve tried:

Storing the data in sessionStorage using JavaScript within the notebook.

Successfully storing the values, but when trying to retrieve and send them back to Python using JavaScript (via window.IPython.notebook.kernel.execute() or similar), it fails

My questions:
Is there a recommended way to persist data across worker reloads in Mercury?

Can you suggest a robust method to retrieve session data (from sessionStorage or elsewhere) and safely pass it back into the Python kernel?

Is there a better architecture for passing data from the parent React app to the Mercury notebook that survives refreshes?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[pplonski]

Hi @silsila,

Thanks for reporting the issue. I think that the easiest way is to pass data in the URL, the same way that you are already doing.

Looks like there is a bug in worker reload, because it should re-load data from the URL.

May I ask what is your use case?

[silsila]

My application workflow involves a React.js parent application hosting a Mercury notebook(created as a docker image and hosted on AWS) within an iframe. The core functionality of the Mercury notebook is to make API calls, where the authentication token for these calls is environment-specific (e.g., Development, Staging, Production).
I need a robust and reliable method to ensure the environment context (Development, Staging, or Production) and the other details which I'm passing from react js app persists within the Mercury notebook across page refreshes, allowing it to consistently fetch the correct authentication token and make successful API calls..

On initial load, the parent React app passes the current environment (e.g., "Development") to the Mercury notebook via URL parameters.
Based on this environment variable, the notebook successfully fetches the corresponding authentication token from AWS Secrets Manager.
However, when the Mercury notebook page is refreshed (e.g., due to user interaction with a widget or a browser refresh), the environment variable passed from the parent URL becomes inaccessible to the notebook.
Consequently, the notebook loses its environmental context, is unable to fetch the correct authentication token, and all subsequent API calls fail.