diff --git a/binder/environment.yml b/binder/environment.yml
index 64fb5b3..9b669a9 100644
--- a/binder/environment.yml
+++ b/binder/environment.yml
@@ -1,15 +1,24 @@
 name: jupyterlab_code_formatter
 channels:
-- conda-forge
-- r
+  - conda-forge
+  - r
 dependencies:
-- autopep8
-- black
-- isort
-- jupyterlab=0.35
-- yapf
-- rpy2
-- r-formatr
-- r-styler
-- pip:
-  - jupyterlab_code_formatter
\ No newline at end of file
+  # runtime dependencies
+  - python >=3.8,<3.9.0a0
+  - jupyterlab >=3.0.0,<4.0.0
+  # labextension build dependencies
+  - nodejs >=14,<15
+  - pip
+  - wheel
+  # Additional dependencies
+  - autopep8
+  - black
+  - isort
+  - yapf
+  - rpy2
+  - r-formatr
+  - r-styler
+  # pip check fixes
+  - pytest
+  - parso >=0.8.0,<0.9.0
+  - jupyter_telemetry >=0.1.0
diff --git a/binder/postBuild b/binder/postBuild
index d6049f6..c92a357 100644
--- a/binder/postBuild
+++ b/binder/postBuild
@@ -1,3 +1,42 @@
-jupyter labextension install @ryantam626/jupyterlab_code_formatter
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+""" perform a development install of jupyter-archive
+    On Binder, this will run _after_ the environment has been fully created from
+    the environment.yml in this directory.
+    This script should also run locally on Linux/MacOS/Windows:
+        python3 binder/postBuild
+"""
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
 
-jupyter serverextension enable --py jupyterlab_code_formatter
+
+ROOT = Path.cwd()
+
+def _(*args, **kwargs):
+    """ Run a command, echoing the args
+        fails hard if something goes wrong
+    """
+    print("\n\t", " ".join(args), "\n")
+    return_code = subprocess.call(args, **kwargs)
+    if return_code != 0:
+        print("\nERROR", return_code, " ".join(args))
+        sys.exit(return_code)
+
+# verify the environment is self-consistent before even starting
+_(sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "check")
+
+# install the labextension
+_(sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-e", ".")
+
+# verify the environment the extension didn't break anything
+_(sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "check")
+
+# list the extensions
+_("jupyter", "server", "extension", "list")
+
+# initially list installed extensions to determine if there are any surprises
+_("jupyter", "labextension", "list")
+
+
+print("JupyterLab with jupyter-archive is ready to run with:\n")
+print("\tjupyter lab\n")