You're absolutely right that %autoreload 2 is powerful — but it has one key caveat: it doesn't fully work with from module import something style imports. When you do:

from mymodule.utils import my_function

Python stores a reference to my_function in your notebook's namespace. If the function's code changes in the source file, the reference doesn't automatically update — auto reload can’t help you here because it's only watching the module, not the symbol reference.

Solutions

Best Practice (Recommended): Use Module-Level Imports

Instead of importing individual functions, import the module:

import mymodule.utils as utils

Then use:

utils.my_function()

This way, %autoreload 2 can detect and reload the updated code.

Alternative : Manually Reload + Reimport

If you really want to keep using from ... import ..., you can manually reload and re-import:

import importlib

import mymodule.utils

importlib.reload(mymodule.utils)

from mymodule.utils import my_function # re-import the updated version

Still a bit messy, but much faster than restarting the kernel.