Getting started with Colab Idle Guard

Colab Idle Guard keeps an eye on Google Colab for you. When you’ve stopped using Colab and no cell is running, it warns you, and, if you allow it, releases the idle runtime so it stops using compute units.

It has two parts that work together:

The Colab Idle Guard app runs quietly in your Windows system tray. It does the timing and decides when a runtime is idle.
The browser extension tells the app what’s happening in your Colab tabs.

Setup takes about five minutes. You’ll need Windows 11 and Google Chrome. (VS Code works too; see the end of this guide.)

Step 1: Install the app

Download colab-idle-guard-0.1.0.zip from GitHub.
Right-click the downloaded file and choose Extract All, then click Extract.
In the extracted folder, right-click install.ps1 and choose Run with PowerShell.

If PowerShell shows a security warning about running a downloaded script, type R and press Enter to run it once. You don’t need administrator rights. When it’s done, the Colab Idle Guard icon appears in your system tray, at the bottom right of the taskbar. If you don’t see it, click the small ^ arrow to show hidden icons.

Step 2: Add the Chrome extension

Open Colab Idle Guard on the Chrome Web Store.
Click Add to Chrome, then Add extension.

The extension’s settings page opens on its own. Keep it open for the next step.

Tip: click Chrome’s puzzle-piece icon and pin Colab Idle Guard, so you can check its status with one click.

Step 3: Connect the extension to the app

This one-time step lets the extension and the app trust each other, so no other program or website can talk to the app.

Right-click the Colab Idle Guard icon in your system tray and choose Copy pairing token.
On the extension’s settings page, click in the Pairing token box and press Ctrl+V.
Click Save and test.

You should see a message that it’s paired. If you closed the settings page, you can reopen it from chrome://extensions → Colab Idle Guard → Details → Extension options.

Finally, reload any Colab tabs you already had open (press F5).

Step 4: Choose what happens when Colab is idle

Out of the box, Colab Idle Guard only warns you. After 30 minutes without Colab activity, you get a Windows notification that your runtime is idle. Nothing is released.

If you want it to release idle runtimes for you:

Right-click the tray icon and choose Settings…
Tick Release idle runtimes automatically and confirm.
Click Save.

Now, when Colab has been idle, a warning window appears with a countdown (60 seconds by default). Click Keep runtime, or just go back to your notebook, and the release is cancelled.

Before you turn this on, know what “release” means. Releasing is the same as choosing Runtime → Disconnect and delete runtime in Colab. Your notebook is kept, but anything only on the runtime is lost: variables in memory, loaded models, and files under /content. Save important results to Google Drive or download them before walking away.

You can also change the idle time (1 minute to 24 hours) and the warning countdown in Settings…, and turn on Start with Windows so it’s always running.

What counts as using Colab

Counts: clicking, typing, scrolling, or editing inside a Colab notebook while that tab is on screen.
Doesn’t count: other tabs, other websites, or other programs. Watching a YouTube video in another tab won’t keep a runtime alive.

A running cell is always safe. Colab Idle Guard never releases a runtime while a cell is running, or while it can’t tell for sure. After a long run of 10 seconds or more finishes, you get a full idle period to save your results.

Reading the tray icon

Grey: watching, no Colab runtime connected
Green: you’re using Colab
Blue: a cell is running, so nothing will be released
Amber: Colab is idle and the timer is counting down
Red: the warning is up, and you can still cancel
Orange “?”: it can’t tell whether a cell is running, so it won’t release anything

Left-click the icon for the full status window.

If something isn’t working

The extension popup says “App not running.” Start Colab Idle Guard from the Start menu. Turn on Start with Windows in Settings so this doesn’t happen again.

The popup says “Not paired” or “Token rejected.” Repeat Step 3. If you removed and re-added the extension, it needs the token again.

It doesn’t notice my Colab tab. Reload the tab with F5. This is needed after installing or updating the extension.

I added a different copy of the extension and it won’t pair. For security, the app remembers the first extension it paired with. Right-click the tray icon → Settings… → Forget, then pair again.

The status says “Runtime state unknown” for a long time. This usually means a notebook was closed while a cell was running. Reopen it, or, if you’re sure nothing is running, choose Nothing is running - clear unknown state… from the tray menu.

It says “Release failed.” Release the runtime yourself in Colab: Runtime → Disconnect and delete runtime. Colab sometimes limits how often this can be done.

Still stuck? Right-click the tray icon → Export diagnostic report…, and email it to help@misttechnologies.net. The report doesn’t contain your token or any notebook content.

Using Colab in VS Code

If VS Code is installed, the installer adds the Colab Idle Guard extension and pairs it automatically. You’ll need Microsoft’s Jupyter extension and Google’s Google Colab extension. The first time a Colab notebook runs, VS Code asks whether Colab Idle Guard may access Jupyter kernels: click Allow.

Turning it off

For a while: right-click the tray icon → Pause monitoring.
Only warnings, no releases: untick Release idle runtimes automatically in Settings.
Completely: Windows Settings → Apps → Colab Idle Guard → Uninstall, then remove the extension in chrome://extensions.

Your privacy

Everything stays on your computer. The extension only notices the kind of activity, like a click or a scroll, never what you type, your code, or your outputs, and it only talks to the app on your own machine. Read the full privacy policy.

Questions or ideas? Email help@misttechnologies.net or open an issue on GitHub. Want the technical details? The full user manual is on GitHub.

Colab Idle Guard is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. “Colab” is a trademark of Google LLC.