Settings and Python packages¶
Open Settings with Ctrl+7.
Settings¶
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Theme | Light, Dark, or System (follows Windows). |
| Workspace folder | Where tables, notebooks and metadata are stored. Changing it switches to the new folder; existing data stays in the old folder. |
| Memory limit | The most memory the query engine may use before spilling to disk. Default: 60% of your RAM; you can enter another value in GB. |
| Default row limit | How many rows the SQL editor's grid loads (100 to 1,000,000; default 10,000). The total row count is always exact and exports always include every row. |
| Notebook kernel memory | The share of the memory limit each notebook kernel's query engine may use: 25%, 50% (default), 75% or 100%. Applies to kernels started afterwards. |
| Dashboard queries at once | How many tile queries a dashboard runs at the same time (1 to 4; default 1). Lower uses less memory; higher can load dashboards with many small tiles faster. |
| Background | Keep running in the tray after closing the window, and start with Windows. Both are off by default. See Jobs and background mode. |
| Python packages | Opens the packages page, described below. |
| Engine | Shows the version and local address of the backend process. |
| About | Version, author, license and third-party notices. |
Below the list you will find the Keyboard shortcuts reference and Running kernels: every notebook kernel that is running, with its memory use and a Shut down button.
Where your data is stored¶
By default in %APPDATA%\ChakyBricks; choose another folder in Settings if you prefer another drive.
| Path in the workspace | Contents |
|---|---|
warehouse\<schema>\<table>\ |
Delta tables (an open format other tools can read) |
notebooks\ |
your .ipynb notebook files |
meta.db |
the catalog, saved queries, query history, dashboards, jobs and run history |
tmp\ |
temporary spill files of large queries |
.venv\ |
the Python environment used by notebooks, with the packages you installed |
To back up your work, copy the workspace folder while ChakyBricks is closed.
Python packages¶
Notebooks run in a Python environment that belongs to your workspace. It comes with these packages, available offline:
- Data: pandas, polars, numpy, pyarrow, duckdb, deltalake, scipy, scikit-learn, openpyxl
- Plotting: matplotlib, plotly
- Notebooks: ipykernel, IPython and their dependencies
Settings → Python packages → Manage packages lists the installed packages, split into the defaults that ship with the app and the ones you installed.
- Install one or more packages by name, separated by spaces (versions such as
lightgbm==4.5.0are accepted). This needs an internet connection, and the packages are installed into your workspace environment only. - Uninstall packages you installed. The default packages cannot be uninstalled.
- Reset to defaults shuts down the kernels and recreates the environment, removing everything you installed.
You can also install from inside a notebook with %pip install name or !pip install name. A package that is new to the kernel can be imported right away; if you changed a package that was already imported, restart the kernel.
Protected packages
duckdb, deltalake, pyarrow, polars, numpy, pandas and ipykernel are pinned to the versions that ship with ChakyBricks, because the cb helper depends on them. Installing a different version of one of these, or a package that would require one, is refused, and the output explains why.
A package installed from the packages page (rather than inside a running notebook) is only importable after you restart that notebook's kernel; the page tells you so.