Keepalive background thread for a Jupyter notebook

keepalive.py

import time
import datetime
import threading

# Global flag to control the thread's execution
keep_alive_thread_running = False
keep_alive_thread = None # To store the thread object

def keep_colab_active_target():
    global keep_alive_thread_running
    print(f"[{datetime.datetime.now()}] Colab Keep-Alive Thread Started.")
    while keep_alive_thread_running:
        print(f"[{datetime.datetime.now()}] Keeping Colab active...")
        # A small sleep is usually sufficient to register activity
        # and not consume too many resources.
        time.sleep(60 * 5) # Sleep for 5 minutes
    print(f"[{datetime.datetime.now()}] Colab Keep-Alive Thread Stopped.")

def start_keep_alive():
    global keep_alive_thread_running, keep_alive_thread
    if not keep_alive_thread_running:
        keep_alive_thread_running = True
        keep_alive_thread = threading.Thread(target=keep_colab_active_target)
        keep_alive_thread.daemon = True # Allows the main program to exit even if thread is running
        keep_alive_thread.start()
        print("Colab Keep-Alive thread initiated. It will run in the background.")
    else:
        print("Colab Keep-Alive thread is already running.")

def stop_keep_alive():
    global keep_alive_thread_running, keep_alive_thread
    if keep_alive_thread_running:
        keep_alive_thread_running = False
        if keep_alive_thread and keep_alive_thread.is_alive():
            # Give the thread a moment to finish its current sleep cycle
            # In a real application, you might use a more sophisticated stop mechanism
            # involving events or queues. For simple keep-alive, this is often fine.
            print("Attempting to stop Colab Keep-Alive thread. Please wait for its current cycle to finish...")
            # We don't join directly here as it would block the cell.
            # The thread will naturally exit on its next loop iteration.
    else:
        print("Colab Keep-Alive thread is not running.")

# --- How to use ---
# Run this cell once to define the functions.

# To start the keep-alive:
# Call this in a separate cell, or at the beginning of your notebook execution.
start_keep_alive()

# To stop the keep-alive (e.g., when you're done or before closing Colab):
# Call this in a separate cell.
# stop_keep_alive()