Launcher

A launcher is a component of a project that defines how compute runs on RenkuLab. Each launcher combines an Environment with a default Resource Pools & Classes configuration.

Renku supports two types of launchers:

1. Session launcher: launches an interactive, browser-based Session for coding and data exploration.
2. Job launcher: runs a non-interactive Job in the background when you submit it.

A launcher contains:

1. an Environment, which defines the software packages and libraries used by the session or job, and
2. a default resource class (see Resource Pools & Classes), which determines the availabler compute resources.

For a Job launcher, you also configure a job command that defines what runs when the job is submitted.

Project's launchers are usable to everyone who can see the project. Anyone with access to the project can launch a session or submit a job from a launcher.

However, the sessions you launch and the jobs you submit are only accessible to you. They are not shared across users.

info

App Launchers will be available in October 2026.

Next steps

• To create an interactive session launcher, see Add a session launcher to your project.
• To create a job launcher, see Add a job launcher to your project.