diff --git a/pywwt/jupyter_server.py b/pywwt/jupyter_server.py
index a8c22fd..81246c7 100644
--- a/pywwt/jupyter_server.py
+++ b/pywwt/jupyter_server.py
@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
+"""Routines for the pywwt notebook server extension.
+
+In order to make files available to the WWT engine, we need to serve them over
+HTTP. Here we extend the Notebook server to be able to server both static
+pywwt HTML/JS assets and custom local files specified by the user.
+
+The tricky part is that the Notebook server and the kernel are in separate
+processes, and there is no super convenient way for them to communicate. Here,
+we assume that they share a home directory, and enable communications by
+writing JSON to a file in $HOME.
+
+The recently added code in :func:`_compute_notebook_server_base_url`
+demonstrates how the kernel can figure out a URL by which to communicate with
+the server. So, in principle, we could replace this local-file communication
+with REST API calls. I'm not aware of any better way for the kernel and server
+to talk to each other. (Note that the notebook "comms" API is for the kernel
+to talk to the JavaScript frontend, not the notebook server.)
+
+"""
 import os
 import json
 import mimetypes
@@ -43,8 +62,60 @@ class WWTFileHandler(IPythonHandler):
         self.finish(content)
 
 
-def serve_file(path, extension=''):
+def _compute_notebook_server_base_url():
+    """Figure out the base_url of the current Jupyter notebook server.
 
+    Copied from
+    https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/issues/3156#issuecomment-401119433
+    with miniscule changes. This is gross, but appears to be the best
+    available option right now.
+
+    """
+    import ipykernel
+    import json
+    from notebook.notebookapp import list_running_servers
+    import re
+    import requests
+
+    # First, find our ID.
+    kernel_id = re.search(
+        'kernel-(.*).json',
+        ipykernel.connect.get_connection_file()
+    ).group(1)
+
+    # Now, check all of the running servers known on this machine. We have to
+    # talk to each server to figure out if it's ours or somebody else's.
+    for s in list_running_servers():
+        response = requests.get(
+            requests.compat.urljoin(s['url'], 'api/sessions'),
+            params = {'token': s.get('token', '')}
+        )
+
+        for n in json.loads(response.text):
+            if n['kernel']['id'] == kernel_id:
+                return s['base_url']  # Found it!
+
+    raise Exception('cannot locate our notebook server; is this code running in a Jupyter kernel?')
+
+
+_server_base_url = None
+
+def get_notebook_server_base_url():
+    """Get the "base_url" of the current Jupyter notebook server.
+
+    """
+    global _server_base_url
+    if _server_base_url is None:
+        _server_base_url = _compute_notebook_server_base_url()
+    return _server_base_url
+
+
+def serve_file(path, extension=''):
+    """Given a path to a file on local disk, instruct the notebook server
+    to serve it up over HTTP. Returns a relative URL that can be used to
+    access the file.
+
+    """
     if not os.path.exists(path):
         raise ValueError("Path {0} does not exist".format(path))
 
@@ -60,7 +131,7 @@ def serve_file(path, extension=''):
         with open(CONFIG, 'w') as f:
             json.dump(config, f)
 
-    return '/wwt/' + hash
+    return url_path_join(get_notebook_server_base_url(), '/wwt/' + hash)
 
 
 def load_jupyter_server_extension(nb_server_app):